Viking French? | What was the Norman Language?

In 911 AD a Viking chief named Rollo (Old Norse Hrólfr) was given as a fief the territory of Normandy in the North of France, the then Western Frankish Kingdom. 155 years later his descendant William would become a king in England starting the Norman Era and leaving a legacy that would shape British and world history. But in terms of those first Scandinavians that came to Northern France in the 10th Century, what language did they speak and how did this influence the development of Modern English that is spoken throughout the world today? While they were originally Old Norse speakers, soon the new "Normans" switched to the local vernacular of Old French, this new blend becoming known as "Old Norman" which retained some interesting features and loaned many words from Old Norse and decisively influenced the English language as we know it.
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How Did the Vikings Become French:
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#Vikings #Normans#Medieval

[@johnr3552]

One of my favourite accidents of the English language is "warranty" and "guarantee" which are essentially the same word making its way into English via two different routes and meaning almost the same thing.

[@GiandomenicoDeMola]

What about "warden" and "guardian"? And a couple of dozen more...

[@greencoatt]

@@GiandomenicoDeMola Yep, like "wife" and "guife"

[@GiandomenicoDeMola]

@@greencoatt lol, WTF man?

[@iamasalad9080]

@@GiandomenicoDeMola lol, GTF man?

[@clg2445]

Or this. Compare German GARTEN. to English garden ,yard, (Kinder)garten. On came from the german(ic) Old saxon language one from the german/dutch forefather called old frankish but went through old norman first and then entered English again. and one via modern German. All from what is todays Germany. All 3 meaning Garten. But in English they each mean a specific type of thing now. :)

[@SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

The hon hon Vikings, I’d love some Valhalla baguettes

[@redsamson5185]

May Marshall Kim Jong-Un live forever!

[@modestoca25]

I think you eat too many baguettes and croissants...

[@karlmuller3690]

@alfred - Joke ... are you at all familiar with the word?

[@karlmuller3690]

@alfred - Well, I for one, am still waiting for a punchline.

[@lurkag2672]

@Alfred TG an american southerner

[@edgelord8337]

We are Vikings and we want to pillage a village near you. Villagers: aww man.

[@rorymosley9356]

Villagers: hemmmmmmm

[@ilayohana3150]

Its almost hwrvesting season

[@nikonantsis4701]

Did someone say RAID!!!!???? I love to raid 😂

[@nikonantsis4701]

Me as a villager: Well there goes the neighborhood, RUUUUUUNNNNNNN!!!!!!!

[@duncanwalduck7715]

Villagers: Vous quoi, mon ami? ('translation'* of 2:11) [not sure why there would be Cockneys living along the French tidal coast speaking Académie French to their native idiom.]

[@Connor-zy8pr]

Honestly, I respect the short clip of Sharpe saying "bastard"... You honestly have my respect.

[@BakouMOH]

I don't understand why English people are still bitter about William's conquest 1000 years later... It contributed to shape who you are today. The English language evolved with it and continued to be malleable, which makes it successful. There are many surnames of Norman origins today as well, so many have at least a bit of Norman DNA. Also, if people in Shetland celebrate their "Viking" DNA, why would British people not be proud of their Norman roots?

[@Robwolf28]

@@BakouMOH It was due to some political arguement probably rehearsed over and over passed down by British politicians in the 1700s.

[@gunarsmiezis9321]

@@BakouMOH "It contributed to shape who you are today." Everything does that, that is not an argument. "The English language evolved with it and continued to be malleable, which makes it successful. There are many surnames of Norman origins today as well, so many have at least a bit of Norman DNA." Why would you be proud that your ancestors where conqured their lanaguage barbarized, their blood tainted, their culture destryed? "if people in Shetland celebrate their "Viking" DNA, why would British people not be proud of their Norman roots?" No because the people of Shetland are skandinavian by blood they merely aknolage who they are, the english are not french.

[@amiscellaneoushuman3516]

@@BakouMOH William the Bastard was his moniker at the time, especially pre conquest, as at that time "bastard" simply meant an illegitimate child, one conceived and born outside marriage. It was only later that the term came to be used as an insult.

[@BakouMOH]

@@gunarsmiezis9321 I find it sad that some people watch channels like these in search of "ethnic purity". The closer you look at history, the more you realise that there is no such thing as ethnic or cultural purity. And that's good. It makes people, including their physical, cultural and linguistic attributes more interesting. Nations change over time for many reasons, including wars, intermarriages, migrations, etc. It's normal that between neighbouring groups, they conquer each other and end-up intermixing and sometimes becoming one. England was unified not very long before William's conquest because various groups conquered eachother until they were all unified under the same crown. Perhaps the word "conquest" has a negative connotation, but I don't think its heritage, 1000 years later, should be looked at with shame or disdain. You should own it. Talking about blood being "tainted" just makes you sound xenophobic or even racist. You know, the whole "blood and soil" thing? ;) Tell people named Percy, Warren, Montgomery, Bruce, etc. that they are "impure" and see their reaction... Also, it is a bit ironic to talk about the English language being "barbarised" by Norman French since the word barbarian is of Latin origin, was likely introduced in English through Norman French and was used by the Romans to describe non-latin speaking tribes, including Germanic ones...

[@Twittler1]

Just a short note on the ‘castle, castel, château’ example. The circumflex over the ‘a’ in château is used in modern French to indicate that the next letter used to be an ‘s’. So pre-modern French ‘chasteau’ or ‘chastel’. It is used to indicate pronunciation - although the ‘s’ is now a phantom, and is not pronounced, the rest of the word is pronounced as though it still was there. So, ‘shatow’ and not ‘shaahtow’.

[@lesfreresdelaquote1176]

Except in Québec and in some dialects such as in Jura, where this distinction is still very strong. In Québec, pâte (paste) and patte (paw) have a very distinct pronunciation that is lost on most French people. The same for "château" and "chatte" (she-cat).

[@tonio103683]

@@lesfreresdelaquote1176 Not Only Jura but most of Eastern European French dialects as well like in Switzerland or Belgium or even Loraine.

[@podes2204]

Now i understand where the word "chaste" comes from.

[@Twittler1]

Chevalier Didou Chaste comes from French Chaste (it never changed once it reached that form), comes from Latin ‘Castus’ = Pure. In both English and French, chaste meant, and still means absence from extramarital sex or sex altogether. Chastity (Fr. Chastité), from which comes from chaste, originally = virginity in both languages. Now both words mean the same/both in both languages as related words, a noun and an adjective.

[@cvb6089]

Kasteel = Dutch

[@martychisnall]

The British monarch is still referred to as the “Duke of Normandy” in the Channel Islands today, though “Duke” is used for both genders.

[@briansmith9439]

And, hence, we have the Duke of Normandy (who is also the Duke of Lancaster) married to the Duke of Edinburgh!

[@c.norbertneumann4986]

Didn't the English monarchs dispense with the title of "Duke of Normandy" in a peace treaty with the king of France, after the English king John Lackland was defeated in Normandy in 1214 AD?

[@matthiuskoenig3378]

@@c.norbertneumann4986 nope, the french declared it a forfeited title in 1202 but the English never abandoned the title. Infact when Elizabeth II visited Normandy in may 1967 she was greeted by the locals with 'viva la duchesse'

[@c.norbertneumann4986]

In the treaty of Paris (1259), the English King Henry III renounced the title "duke of Normandy".

[@purew.a.s.p6369]

@@matthiuskoenig3378 thts fascinating lol

[@ElGringoCastellano]

"If Maltese is a Semitic language, why does it have so many Italian words?" "If Malayalam is a Dravidian language, why does it have so many Sanskrit words?"

[@marcus4046]

If Emojis arnt a language, WHY DO I SEE THEM EVERYWHERE!! GET AWAY!! OH GAW-

[@infozencentre]

I think a lot of those 'Italian words' are in fact Latin borrowed words. But Maltese has obscure ancient origins, it's one of the oldest continually spoken European languages and its the closest you can come to speaking what the Phonecians spoke and what the Ionians spoke.

[@yatowbvideo4475]

@@infozencentre no, the maltese language was not descendant of Phoenician, it was in fact, remnant of Sicilian Arabic Language that spoken on Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages The closest thing you find today that resembling Phoenician was Hebrew

[@javier6926]

Jizoan Zendo Maltese doesn’t come from Phoenician , it comes from Arabic. Considering the Arabs conquered Malta in the 9th century , the idea that Maltese is the “oldest language in Europe “ makes no sense.

[@thewild2334]

YOOO SOMEONE WHO KNOWS MALAYALAM WOW

[@catspaw3815]

The Normans are endlessly fascinating

[@horowirtz9415]

Thanks from Rouen, Normandie 👍

[@Michael_De_Santa-Unofficial]

​@@horowirtz9415 Rouen is a very lovely city. The churches there are very stunning.

[@rt6692]

Rollo: It's a free market!

[@regular-joe]

Yes, please, a video about Norman French spoken still today.

[@NeroPiroman]

It is almost dead

[@aaronmarks9366]

@Odysseas G We have 2 centuries of assimilationist Republican language policy to thank for that

[@cigh7445]

I've had French friends and travelled France. French is basically the same wherever you go. The modern Parisian 'r' has replaced the rolled r's in every single dialect. My Normandy friends had never even heard of Norman French. The French government policy has always been against regionalism and pro standardisation and they have been very effective.

[@MrBigfabe]

this is a complex task as there are several norman dialects, so if one tries to do that it will be necessary to review the differences between those dialects first.

[@chrischarman8707]

@@cigh7445 you find it in the Channel Islands

[@kimwexler9393]

A lot of our 'emotional' words come from old Norse eg. Happy, angry, lucky.

[@tylerdurden3722]

In Afrikaans, the word "gelukkig" can mean both happy or lucky.🤔

[@mightymagnus]

@@tylerdurden3722 same in Swedish with the word "lycklig"

[@aaronmarks9366]

Compare also "a happy coincidence" for a trace od the conflation between "happy" and "lucky"

[@lance-biggums]

@@mightymagnus it's the same in German: Glücklich. Probably almost all Germnanic languages

[@duwang8499]

Actually lucky probably came from Middle Dutch into Middle English.

[@happyspanners]

There’s a very interesting podcast called The History of the English Language that covers all details you mentioned. I would check it out!

[@bugzyhardrada3168]

Who made it? There are so many podcasts in the subject i wouldn't know which one you are referring to

[@happyspanners]

@@bugzyhardrada3168 Kevin Stroud. Hope that helps!

[@bugzyhardrada3168]

@@happyspanners thanks mate That helps 🍻

[@yc2673]

From a French : C became was replaced by the Ch during the renaissance period. Before a Château was a Castel (from Castrum) and became a Cateau (pronounced Kato) like Cateau-Cambrésis, a town in France. All of this comes from the latin. And William is the English dérivé of the old Frankish Willem which became Guilhèm and eventually Guillaume. In the time of Guillaume le Conquérant (as we call him) he might have been called Guillhèm de Normandie by the other nobles of the French realm. The Norses simply seemed to have some problems with the G pronounciation as you mentionned. Interesting video and good work!

[@chtabarddumultien6075]

Not specifically the Norse, Picards and Normans both didn’t had this evolution from "w" to "gw".

[@chtabarddumultien6075]

The French chuintement isn’t dated from the Renaissance but in early medieval, and the Latin conservatism isn’t a peculiarity of Norse but of Normanno-Picard up the Joret-line which didn’t had the French evolution of "W" -> "Gw"

[@Totoofwarful]

if you wonder, in french we call him ''guillaume le conquérant" not william

[@Simonsvids]

Maybe, but its not what his mother called him :)

[@Totoofwarful]

@@Simonsvids yea, it's contemporary called him ''Williame le Conquereor''

[@zekun4741]

@@Totoofwarful William the Bastard

[@tylerdurden3722]

I wonder how Bill became the nickname for William... And Robert has Bob. Seems like a pattern.

[@patrickmcshane7658]

What about Billy?

[@robertskrzynski2768]

How far into Normandy did Flemish settlement go (these are Germanic speakers) and Normandy was part of the old Roman Saxon shore were the people even then a German speaking group. Also during the 60's an Afrikaaner I knew went for a walking holiday from Normandy to Denmark: he reckoned that if stayed close to the shore line and spoke to older people in Afrikaans they understood him and he could understand them.

[@Yakodindar]

West flemish is still spoken today in france, but by a very limited number of people, I think 50K. It used to be way more in the past roughly 500k-1M. I don't know the maximum extent of this language tho, but I've read somewhere that old frankish/ franconian, was kinda widely spoken in the northern parts of france ( Picardy, Nord-pas de Calais, Champagne Ardennes, etc.. until the late middle ages. However one can only rely on official language statistics, and flemish from the 18th century on only has been spoken in the extreme north of france in the département of the nord and pas de calais.

[@tonio103683]

Late Vulgar latin is the ancestor of all romance languages and wasn't spoken in Italy anymore than it was in the other regions. In Italy they simply spoke Old-Italian languages.

[@bobby_bretwalda]

Loved the Sharpe "bastard" snippet! No one says the B-word like Sean Bean!

[@silversurfer7079]

Rob-Carrass. BAS-TED. Sheffield dialect through and through.

[@RickMitchellProvenanceAndRoots]

Language topics are always fascinating.

[@ultrak0w]

This is great, because there are even official sources which state that the introduction of French words (in this historical period) was via Middle French and not necessarily or specific the dialectic of Norman French at this time. 'Middle French' being the historical agent in such accounts seems like one of those reductive entities that we encounter in sloppy or over-generalized historical work. Cheers mate.

[@MrBigfabe]

I think that one of the reasons is that the threacherous french republic refuses to recognize our not-a-french-dialect norman language, and moreover there are mainly ignorant people in the educational system that do not even know that norman is not a dialect of french, as it’s been perfectly explained in this video norman existed far before a widely commonly practiced so-called french language ever existed. This is political, and it has influenced the academic works on the subject, at least in the jacobian France.

[@aprilcoursey4533]

Very interesting. Thank you.

[@micahistory]

Very interesting. I remember when I did French class, I read some old french and realised that it sounded more similar to english than modern french.

[@Jcrpdx]

Fascinating. Thank you.

[@brianchen5606]

Love these Norman related topics!

[@ecurewitz]

quite interesting, thank you!

[@untitledjuan2849]

Good video!

[@edwardfranks5215]

Well done, I did enjoy it.

[@jeremyday9056]

I love history, and I love language. Now a video about the history of language? Oui, s'il vous plaît ! C'est trop parfait.

[@Fiachbuay1987]

Man, you did a fantastic job! And you have grown up so much, my dude! Good to see you still at it =)

[@micahistory]

Many of the french words in english are lost in modern french but existed in old french

[@anglishbookcraft1516]

Many many many were Germanic that’s why. I’d say that 20-30% of Old French or Norman namely was Germanic. Those words were wiped away by the ongoing cultural sway of Latin.

[@micahistory]

@@anglishbookcraft1516 ok

[@stufour]

You are totally right and it’s nothing to do with Germanic wordstock. There are plenty of words that came into English where they were retained but then lost (or changed meaning) in French. There are even words that did this and were then borrowed back from English into Modern French - as if English had been looking after them :)

[@micahistory]

@@stufour yes

[@wertyuiopasd6281]

That's not how it works at all, as a linguist...

[@long_dan]

Hey Hilbert. Just like many other videos on this channel, I found this one fairly interesting. Keep up the good work! By the way, how come you chose to use “Asturias, patria querida” from 5:53 onwards?

[@zanderC5953]

Awesome distinctions between Norman French and modern French^^ Pretty cool! Please do a separate video on modern day Norman French^^

[@Ndriana]

About 8:11, I don’t know how Norman French pronounced "Hougue" but for sure modern Normands pronounce it like “Oog” (with the typical silent French H). At least names of villages like Saint Vaast-La-Hougue are pronounced like that. And I believe there’s a connection between Hougue and Hague since some villages in that area are called like that, like that city in the Netherlands

[@metabolicsalamanca]

is that "Asturias patria querida" at 6:07????? love it!!!

[@Thedarkestduchess]

Oh, i ❤️this channel!

[@multymedia5320]

great vid

[@dan-andreinafureanu6046]

I'd love to see a video on Romanian done by you, as a Romanian.

[@8thLegio]

Family is from Guernsey 🇬🇬 they lived in a place called la houguette in St. Pierre du Bois. Love your vids!

[@mrgodliak]

You mean, Wuernsey? I'm sorry, bad joke.

[@FrLawRE]

Norse settlement was not only dense in the Cotentin peninsula but also in the Pays de Caux. In this region there are lots of place names with endings coming from old Norse; the two most common of these are "bec " which means stream(Caudebec en Caux,, Bolbec, etc etc ) and tot which means farm.(Hautot, Lanquetot etc, etc).

[@Mike-tz4ku]

i always see videos attempting to rewrite history on youtube such as this one. just a quicj reminder : norman french shared many similarities with other northern french variants grouped as 'langue d' oïl'. also back in middle age Normandy was officially integrated into French kingdom. they signed a treaty. one opposite example is : Wallonia (south belgium, also french-speaking, was integrated into eastern frankish kingdom, aka holy roman empire), but not france.

[@lafamilleerre7733]

En fait, les "véritables" français seraient les... Wallons ! Si on change le W initial par un G, on trouve le mot "Gallons". C'est proche des "Gaulois", non ? Et les "Gallons" devaient occuper un espace assez important durant le haut Moyen-Age. Quelqu'un se souvient-il de Godefroi(d) de Bouillon ? Aujourd'hui, il serait de nationalité belge. Mais lui, comment se définissait-il ?

[@Mike-tz4ku]

@@lafamilleerre7733 tout à fait. et Charles V d'Espagne qui passait son jeunesse à Bruxelles. Précisément La Wallonie était le berceau de langud française. à la fin de l'empire romain, les noblesses Francs se sont installés d'abord en Wallonie avant d'entrer la nord de la France.

[@MaxSluiman]

From a history/war history freak: I think you have one of the best history channels. I enjoy it a lot. And you answer interesting questions. This video is a fine example. The humour I grudgingly accept.

[@derekseyferth2390]

Hilbert, I feel like you will become some kind of professor, you’re an amazing teacher. Have you papers yet? For school? Because I would honestly buy one if they were available. I know you haven’t written a book yet but I would buy that too. And if you have any suggestions on where to find sources for everything you have learned that would be fantastic, because I can’t afford to go to college or university here in America, and even if I could, I can’t find any colleges near me that have courses on this kind of history. Thank you!

[@callmepretzygoo]

Was reading the Chanson de Roland for my French class in its original language (or at least the language on the Oxford manuscript) and realized I understood it more than the modern French I've been studying for years 😀

[@bruni5911]

Really good video! Not enough people know about the norman language, even here in Normandy:( Btw your pronounciation is quite good actually; just an observation about the "h": in the islands it's pronounced like in english but in mainland the h is really strong, it's a voiceless velar fricativ (and sometimes even a voiced uvular fricative). So the word "hougue" can be pronounced [hug] or [xug], depending on where you're from. I may be wrong but I think that this particular pronounciation may be due to a norse-influence.

[@Aritro77]

Great, great video. Loved it mate. What region is your accent from btw?

[@Manuelasturiano1999]

nice asturias patria querida use in the background

[@p.p.e.b.3720]

As a French Speaker from Normandy, you could teach me a lot of things. Thanks Skål

[@MrBigfabe]

Note that the written form I new for war in norman is Vaer (which is actually the form one can find in « Le roman de Rou »), i discover here the Werre form. By the way there are still lots of things you said in this video that still apply to modern norman dialects (because there have always been several), such as the way H is pronounced, to the point that the way we pronounce hummar (norman form of lobster or french hommard, no idea what is the actual writting though, I try to replicate here the way I pronounce it: rhummmarr lol, sorry I have zero grade in phonetic notation 😅, it is kind of guttural) is almost identical to the way it is pronounced in modern norse as I heard

[@kabodra]

Hilbert, did you finish your series on "Unification of England"? I think you did not. You have not explained how as a result of unification the country became to be called "England", not "Saxonland"

[@Hamidlinski]

Azerbaijan? :)

[@Twittler1]

The Angles. There were more of them, and more widespread. At the time, only relatively minor dialectical differences between them and the Saxons. Before unification of the ‘English’ kingdoms, most of the south was some version of ‘Saxe’ (West Saxe, South Saxe, etc.).

[@yuriyu123]

11:30 this chart is interesting, and could even be expanded to spanish like: warrior - werreur - guerrier - guerrero history and languages sure are amazing.

[@wertyuiopasd6281]

The norman French spoke old french. WHAT A FINDING THANKS FOR THE VIDEO M8

[@saguntum-iberian-greekkons7014]

Its super interesting Hilbert, im amazed how much i learn from you. Especially about languages. Words like « Warrior » i always thought it was from anglo-saxon

[@nerdyguy1152]

after reading this video, i have to point out that Norman French isn't an independent language as this video suggests. it's one of the dialects spoken in Northern France collectively called 'langue d'oïl' Every regional French varient has its unique features. Norman French is no exception. Beside the uniqueness, Percheron, Lorraine, Picard, Wallon etc. also share similar features with Norman. 'H' sound was pronounced in Northern France until French revolution. i think the creator of this video needs to watch some other videos of real Norman-French spoken by a real Norman in Normandy.

[@Mike-tz4ku]

True, just like the french dialects spoken in strasbourg which contains some german influences. It’s nothing new or unique.

[@nerdyguy1152]

@@Mike-tz4ku indeed, back in medieval times no languages were standardised. Also the video only singles out the very few Norman French words which are different from Standard French words. But the vast majority of Norman French words were nearly identical to old French words such as alosier, méselle, ordir, tolir,méhaignié etc.

[@mbd501]

Those are all considered separate languages. A dialect would mean that it branched away from the other language. But they didn't branch away from Parisian French. They all evolved separately from a common root, the langue d'oil.

[@nerdyguy1152]

@@mbd501 sorry but you are wrong. They’re all called ‘dialect continuum’. Back in ancient times no languages were unified. All the northern french dialects i mentioned, together with parisian french, is collectively called ‘langue d’œil’ because they were latin variants but strongly influenced by germanic speeches. That’s the reason they shared huge degree of similarity (though not necessarily mutually intelligible) and became so different from southern french dialects grouped together as ‘langue d’oc’ / ‘langue d’occitans’ (which is closer to pure latin)

[@mbd501]

@@nerdyguy1152 Linguists consider them separate languages. From the start of wikipedia article: "Norman or Norman French (Normaund, French: Normand, Guernésiais: Normand, Jèrriais: Nouormand) is a Romance language which can be classified as one of the Oïl languages along with French, Picard and Walloon."

[@Val-des-Pres]

Great video, but I'm not too sure about the hypothesis that "castel" in Norman French came via Occitan, as similar terms exists in other Oïl dialects (for example, cateau in Picard). It probably comes directly from Latin, and kept the k sound unlike "Standard French. Also, the preference for "w" instead of "g" also exists in other "northern" Oïl dialects such as Picard or.. Walloon! Hope that helps for the next video, looking forward to watch it.

[@AllanLimosin]

Oïl languages*

[@tideghost]

@@AllanLimosin *langues d’oïl

[@harrynewiss4630]

Castel was also borrowed into English before 1066

[@mrgodliak]

I’m pretty sure in Old French the “h” was pronounced too, not just Norman French

[@thibautnarme6402]

Well that's not clear. Latin languages tend to struggle with the h, and already in the 1st century CE Latin teacher were despairing that their students (and the common folk) dropped their 'h' both in pronunciation (from Greek loan words) or in writing. The simple fact that the way the sound has been transcribed has changed several time in the early history of Romance languages is a sign of unease. Another thing to bear in mind is that most h- word are germanic in nature, well as said in the video the population was mostly gallo-romance speaking.

[@lesfreresdelaquote1176]

@@thibautnarme6402 Actually, it is even more interesting than that. In French, there is a thing called the "liaison", which is when the last consonant of a word is pronounced with the following vowel in the next word: "les amis" is pronounced "les zamis". However, if the word starts with an "h" then things become really interesting: * If the "h" comes from a latin word such as "heure" (hour), then the liaison is possible: "les heures" is pronounced "les zeures". * If the "h" comes from a germanic word such as "hache" (axe), then the liaison is absent: "les haches" is pronounced: "les haches". Note that the letter "h" is pronounced "ache" in French, but in this CASE, you can liaison. And this rule managed to influence English: for instance, "hour" in English starts with an "h", which is not pronounced.

[@Fenditokesdialect]

@@lesfreresdelaquote1176 well it's not as systematic as that in fact because some Germanic words like "hébergement" do not have aspiration.

[@lesfreresdelaquote1176]

@@Fenditokesdialect Of course, if I know something in linguistics, it is that rules have always exceptions. Often times, the reasons are related to when, where and how words were acquired. For instance, in French, the phonology evolution had quite a detrimental effect on how Latin words evolved into French words, to the point that very different words evolved into the same sound: "sans, cent, sent" or "ceint, sain, saint, sein, seing" or good examples. People had to come up with a solution to keep these words apart and they sometimes invented weird etymology to give each word a proper spelling, because they wanted these words to show their own Latin root in their spelling. When a word is borrowed, people usually adapt the pronunciation according to the phonology of their language and when the language evolves, the borrowing history is lost and the word evolves according to the language itself. The "h" in French used to be aspired, then it stopped and now people do not understand this notion anymore. There used to be a debate on whether we could say "les haricots" as "les zaricots", and many many words have lost their liaison protection over the years.

[@nicholasleblanc6592]

In acadian french (maritime french canadians) some h are pronounced. Well historically they were, this tendency is declining due to the influence of standard french. In acadian French, you would pronounce the h in "homard" and "haut" but never "heure" or "homme".

[@reallyhappenings5597]

Just wanted to hear some at the outset!

[@phatlaluke]

Its interesting that in the romance languages we see "Gu" and in the Brythonic languages we see "Gw" (breton: Gwilherm, Welsh: Gwilym)

[@mrgodliak]

Italic-Celtic relation probably at play

[@tonio103683]

@@mrgodliak Not at all, It's a convergent evolution of the sound /w/. Their common ancestor lacked the /gw/ sound in the positions we find it today. Also closely related languages to French like Norman and Walloon as well as Arpitan lacked this /gw/ and so cannot be explained by the common ancestor of Latin and Celtic. It is likely it's due to influence on each other however but since -believe it or not- /w/ becoming some kind of /g/ sound is quite common in world languages, i wouldn't be surprised they developped this change independently. "Gu" and "Gw" both represented the same /gw/. In French it was subsequently reduced to a simple hard /g/ sound, not so sure about the other romance langues.

[@phatlaluke]

@@mrgodliak i have to agree with @tonio103683 , as to my knowledge we don't see a /gw/ sound in the q-celtic languages.

[@mrgodliak]

@@tonio103683 That'd make sense, I was honestly just guessing without much knowledge

[@tonio103683]

​@@mrgodliak "Not at all" was a bit harsh. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been so antagonistic.

[@charlottemonger9799]

Gawl dang I love this channel

[@cheeveka3]

You should do a video about the Gaulish and Celtic influence on regional languages of France.😁

[@carthkaras6449]

It is really difficult to do because the Gallic languages ​​were not written. The Gauls are Celts and the Gallic languages ​​were close to Latin, which is another difficulty. (this is also why the Gallic regions were Latinized so quickly)

[@lewishorswell7329]

Would be interested in seeing a video about the gothic languages .

[@williamcooke5627]

8.20 ff. More of these words have made it into English than you think. "Howe' for a burial mound is quite common in placenames, and 'mew' for seagull is a common regional word, though it comes from OE maew rather than the ON word. You have it in Dutch, too, as meeuw. 'Muggy' to me means 'damp and warm' and hence 'close' or 'stifling'.

[@arcanics1971]

That cut after William's name was enjoyable. Clearly you have a very *Sharpe* sense of humour.

[@richdobbs6595]

The reference isn't obvious to me. Is it from the ITV's TV series Sharpe based on Bernard Cornwell's novels?

[@Charliecomet82]

On behalf of my Norwegian-American grandmother, I was crestfallen when my French professor told me that the Normans ended up speaking French because that was what happened when a less civilized people conquered a more civilized one...

[@eamsee657]

I found this very interesting and would love to see more videos regarding language and their developments into the modern era. We see this a lot in New... uh, em... Amsterdam (NY). Our English is mixed heavily with words from other languages. So much so, that people living a few counties away will not understand certain words and phrases that a native New Yorker commonly uses. It makes one wonder what the English language will look/sound like throughout various regions of the world in 300 or so years.

[@alen-bm4ej]

I really like your videos, but I’d also like to see some videos about Slavic history, since I feel like that part of European history is being left out. Anyways great job!

[@JRondeauYUL]

Very interesting study! Well done 👍 Well explained ! Let’s not forget that when the Norman first arrived in Francia, the court of Charlemagne spoke Frankish, not French. So, the first contacts between the leaders of the Franks and the Vikings happened in Germanic languages. A language base they all share. Your work make me realize that although many Québécois have Normand’s origins, there is no Norman French heritage in our language. We are truly an île de France colony. Ancient Travelers wrote that they were astonished and surprised how good was the language level of the Canadians they met in Nouvelle France, comparable to Paris and much better than the average French citizens.

[@nerdyguy1152]

I think all Frankish noblemen were bilingual, i.e. they spoke both Frankish language and French (la langue d’oïl) by the time of Charlemagne’s reign. The Oath of Strasburg (le serment de Strasbourg) is a good example. It’s written in 3 languages, latin, french / la langue d’oïl and frankish. And even the frankish and viking leaders interracted in germanic languages, they may not totally understand each other because back in middle ages most languages had not yet been codified/ standardised

[@nerdyguy1152]

and yes you're right. to be mote precise Québec French preserves the elements during Louis XIV's epoch while European French is a product after French Revolution

[@andyleighton6969]

Charlemagne was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 800AD and died in 814AD. The lands that became Normandy were first ceded by Charles the Simple in 911 AD, nearly a hundred years later. [The earliest surviving mention of Rolf the Ganger by name is a charter of 918 AD] Charles was Charlemagne's great great grandson. Lots of time for language to shift, particularly as you consider the Franconian branch of the Carolingians habitually married into the local power structures, as did the Normans in their turn. Charles' other was Adelaide of PARIS. His paternal grandmother was Ermentrude of ORLEANS. I doubt the conversations in those ladies' private chambers were in Old Norse, and "give me a child to the age of seven" and all that. It only took 155 years from a bunch of Old Norse speaking brigands getting land in France to William landing at Pevensey speaking Norman French.

[@quinntheeskimooutdoors6234]

😊Thanks

[@morganmurphy5250]

Please do a vid on the channel islands im from there and i was hopeing you would talk about it in this vid. As there is not much on youtube about jerriais jersey norman french. Would make my day.

[@kebman]

THis! I meant this. Sorry, I just got so excited!!1

[@dophan6938]

OMG So that's why Wales is Gales in spanish :O I always wondered why it was so different, turns out, it wasn't.

[@antonycharnock2993]

But Wales is an old english/saxon/germanic word for stranger or foreigner so could Gales be a remnant of the visigoths who invaded Spain as in Galicia which still retains some celtic culture? I recently discovered that parts of Asturias may have been settled by Vikings as well!?

[@myhandlehasbeenmishandled]

Any videos on someone reading old Norman language spoken back then? Not what's spoken today in Normandy. I can't find any videos.

[@infozencentre]

Some Canadian veterans of the Normandy landings reported that local Normans were pleased to be able to communicate easily with some French Canadian troops who they realized did not speak Parisian French but old French

[@kitskivich]

I find this so interesting because my French Canadian ancestors who arrived in the region of Quebec from 1632 onward were mostly from Normandy and Brittany, with only the occasional progenitor from as far north as Amiens, as far east as Paris (well, at least one of the Daughters of the King to whom I'm related) and as far south as LaRochelle.

[@infozencentre]

@@kitskivich you descend from the house of Bourbon? In fact I do too, through the Spanish branch

[@kitskivich]

@@infozencentre The Daughters of the King were orphans who were given dowries by the King of France and sent over to marry the men who settled Quebec. Coincidentally, I do also descend from the Bourbon line as well, but on my maternal side.

[@joshadams8761]

The Romanian word for “yes” is “da”, same as in Russian.

[@And-lj5gb]

Between 10 and 15% of all Romanian vocabulary comes from Slavic languages. It used to be even more before XIX century efforts of re-romanization of the language. Old Church Slavonic was administrative and liturgical language in Romanian principalities until XVI/XVII century. Also Romanians are surrounded by Slavic nations on all sides with the exception of Hungarians. As a Polish speaker learning Romanian, I must say there are even some striking grammatical similarities between the two languages.

[@gunarsmiezis9321]

@@And-lj5gb Have the lanaguages you speak seen an influx of foreign words recently?

[@And-lj5gb]

@@gunarsmiezis9321 - what do you mean? It's pretty obvious that languages borrow from foreign languages recently, especially words connected with technology and science from English. But I have not studied the question to be able to answer in details.

[@gunarsmiezis9321]

@@And-lj5gb I mean that everyone uses so many english words these days. And in my lanagueage the state even aproves of this as they call russian words barbarism but english words internationalisms. Total bulshit. They keep claiming we have poor language but in truth they have poor language the language itself is good.

[@blckroseimmortal]

@@And-lj5gb Before the re-romanization of the Romanian language in the 19th century, the most used words were about 40% of Slavic origin, around the same percentages of Slavic vocabulary in the Baltic languages if I'm not mistaken.

[@dwaynethorstein4095]

My family is descended from William and his ancestor Rollo (Hrólfr). The last native French speaker in our ancestry was probably John of Gaunt or his son John Beaufort. That cadet branch of the Plantagenets who became Beauforts then Stewarts, Frasers then Cuthberts moved to the Province of South Carolina in 1770. The French my grandfather taught me is a peculiar dialect. He felt it important to teach me French as I grew up. I don't know how he knew French.

[@Twittler1]

Don’t want rain on your parade, but your family and millions of others.

[@harrynewiss4630]

Yes quite and I would take that biography with a massive bucket of salt too@@Twittler1

[@gabrieldufour1945]

Love your video, man. I got interested in dead languages for a year, now. Your channel offers a good history lesson. And... look I really don't want to sound condescendant... I really DO NOT want to... In Guerrier, and all the french words that end with "ER", it is pronunce like the "AY" in Day. In Guerrier, you still have that high pitched "I" that sounds like an "E", then you bridge it with the "AY" fluidly by the end of the word. The easy phonotic writing of it would be GEIR-RIAY. I say that cause the way you pronunce it sounds like Guérir, and this is the french for Healing. They have quite an opposite meaning. By the way, your pronunciation of Guillaume was flawless so your French is really not that bad. Though I wouldn't blame you, French is a rich but pretencious language to work with. PS: And sorry for my english.

[@wertyuiopasd6281]

You're quite wrong about "norman french". It was langue d'oil non the less, and thus it was proper old french. If you talk about regions or dialects, we have a lot more than this in France. These dialects are even older and more mysterious than a lot of these languages shown in the video. We still don't really know today how old Basque is for example.

[@baneofbanes]

Bruh Basque isn’t a fucking dialect it’s not even related to French at all.

[@familhagaudir8561]

Québec French has heavy Normand ( the oïl language one ) influence and a handful of Norse words made their way here through that. Grèyer ( equip, used extensively in se dégrèyer ( remove your outdoors clothes ), grèyer la table ( set the table ), grèiment ( equipment, stuff ). Varek ( shore sea weeds ). Etc.

[@kebman]

7:21 In my North Norwegian dialect I call a seagull for a _måse._ The Bokmål name for the bird today is _måke,_ which incidentally is also spelled the same way as our word for shovelling... From this I can already assume that it was probably Danes who came to Normandy, since they-to this day-have a much softer way of saying _måge,_ with a silent _g,_ almost akin to a _v,_ just like in the Norse example. The great _stød_ shift notwithstanding!

[@hakanpersson6524]

I have heard of an explanation of your famous "Sutton Hoo" site that it has similarities with the swedish "sjutton högar". Have you heard of that meaning of the word "Hoo" for mounds and coming from haugr ? Is it possible or just imagination ?

[@egbront1506]

Imagination. Etymology is Sut (south) Tun (homestead) and Hoh (hill)

[@jp16k92]

From a French guy who graduated in medieval studies, I’d like to point out the Anglo Norman is easier to read and understand for a modern French person than old French is. Somehow, modern French and Anglo Norman are quite close.

[@reidparker1848]

Words came into Parisian French, after being brought to the English language by the Anglo-Normans? I'd argue that the Normans were simply the last group to comprise the English people, before the region was taken and made firmly French in the 1200s.

[@Fenditokesdialect]

Small note: the equivalent of "wait" and "waitier" is "guetter" in modern French which means to stalk or follow

[@meandmetoo8436]

Eh ? No, "guetter" means to keep attention or stand guard.

[@kuperfournier2266]

I’m not sure where you heard and I’m not trying to be rude but you’re wrong.

[@OptLab]

@@kuperfournier2266 ça à l'air vrai: Etymologie: vieux-francique *wahtôn

[@Fenditokesdialect]

@@OptLab ouais le truc c'est qu'il a utilisé le mot en Ancien Français pour sa comparaison lexicale plutôt que le mot moderne. Je sais c'est un peu pédant de le remarquer mais voilà.

[@RyandracusChapman]

Guetter means to watch in Cajun French lol. Interesting, huh? Modern French love to use regarder.

[@elainekruger-haye3463]

Interesting too how some words became doublets like " guardian/warden, etc. My favourites, predating 1066 are the Danish words with "k" where AS had "sh" so "skirt" and "shirt" started meaningthe same thing

[@alfredthegreatkingofwessex6838]

To anyone interested I would like to recommend 2 amazing lectures by Michael Drout. History of the English language and The Anglo Saxon world. They go waaay deep into these subjects.

[@Frilouz79]

When we look at the Gallo-Roman words borrowed by the Breton language over the centuries, we can see that the first layer, dating from the High Middle Ages, remains very close to Occitan. In particular, there is no palatalisation of k/g in front of "a": kastell, karg (load), kabestr (halter), kanab (hemp)... At the end of the Middle Ages, the Romance language spoken in the East of the Duchy of Brittany, the ancestor of today's Gallo, was a variant of Angevin, a variety of the Oïl language of North-West France. Words borrowed from this period have "ch" before "a".

[@ReeseJamPiece.]

My family name originates in the Scottish borders region, most likely Dumfries. It comes from a clan that was founded by a Norman guy. I'm unsure if I have any Norman ancestry, but it is quite interesting.

[@gusparovsky1411]

Oh man you know how to pronounce Guillaume, I am super amaze.

[@roidstonnorman5977]

the only way to find the history of my bloodline is buried in videos and books. brilliant video!

[@londonwilde]

I’m fascinated by the G to W usage in words from Norman. I’ve tried to collect examples, the most interesting being Guepe and wasp. You get the Norman ‘W’ sound and a circumflex ‘S’ in there. I think guile and wily are interchangeable like guerre and war. Guard and ward are good ones. One area that I’m interested in is the similarity in the sounds of Welsh/Cornish names and Norman. I’d hoped this video might address this. So names such as Gwyneth, Gwendoline, Guinevere give us a compound of the Guiilame and William transition. Thoughts welcome on this.

[@lafamilleerre7733]

Wales/Galles.

[@matthewmann8969]

Norman is a combo of gestures, expressions, signs, signals, signatures, languages, linguistics, dialects, and other ways of speaking yeah

[@stumccabe]

Hilbert, near Plymouth is a small rocky island, home to many gulls, called the Mew Stone. I believe it's name derives from an older English name for gull/seagull which I assume is the cognate of the Norman word for gull.

[@yves2281]

1:30 No, "Guillaume" is not the French version of "William". Both names are respective versions and evolutions of "Willhelm", an older Germanic name. Both of them exist in parallel, one given to "France" by the Frankish tribes ruling Gaul, and the other by the Anglo-Saxon tribes having settled in Britain. And by the way, his original name was "Williame", and on his grave, his name is written in Latin : "Guillelmus".

[@wertyuiopasd6281]

He has done so many mistakes. Can't believe he said "norman french" wasn't french lol. While it's langue d'oil, so it's old french or vulgar latin.

[@saguntum-iberian-greekkons7014]

In Hilbert s’dutch, frisian, flemish etc its « Vilhjamlr » which sounds so badass

[@fietsindeschie]

its willem

[@misererenobis8900]

Check out Jèrriais (Jersey Norman French), there’s also a very well known landmark / Dolmen on the island called “La Hougue Bie”.

[@AllanLimosin]

Jersey French and Jersey Norman are 2 different vernaculars of 2 different Oïl languages.

[@misererenobis8900]

@@AllanLimosin I was brought up in Jersey, and we’ve always referred to the patois as either Jèrriais / Jersey French or Jersey Norman French, which is pretty much what’s stated in Wikipedia. What makes you say they’re two different vernaculars?

[@AllanLimosin]

@@misererenobis8900 What makes me say they're 2 different vernaculars? Their classifications and the history of the French language. It makes me say they are two different vernaculars because one is used in administration and economy (Jersiais/Jersey French) and the other by the population (Jèrriai/Jersey Norman). Also, the French government assimilated people inside their borders to them and the regional culture got appropriated by them such as their language: Patois is a pejorative term (nowadays normalized) that says everything that is a deformation of French (the modern definition is every languages that are not French). That's why a lot of people consider their languages as “broken” French. For example, my Occitan village say they speak a variety of French when we already know Occitan is not French today, same happens to Italy or Iran for Instance. And last but not least, French comes from an extinct Oïl language called Francien* along side Tourangeau, Orléanais and Berrichon-Bourbonnais. I quite didn't mentioned Wikipedia, though they are right.

[@bertoldriesenteil1430]

Any nordic loan words in Norman-French might have been floating around in Britain before 1066 as large areas of the British Isles were colonised by Vikings earlier. But the word wreck as in shipwreck is interesting. In German wreck is spelt wrack. The w is not mute as in the English version. In Jersey-Norman-French wracking which we now associate with oil, is also a verb. The w is pronounced like v in English as it is in German. It means to collect or heap up seaweed on the beach. This (but also other) presumably Nordic word also entered use in Breton where it is found in words relating to heaps of seaweed and a particular type of seeweed called varech which is seetang.

[@mickles1975]

Is vinr, friend? I'm sure that viking is saying "You wot, mate?" 2:14

[@short-leggedturtle1315]

One great example is warranty and guarantee. Warden and guard might be another one.

[@adamclark1972uk]

Also wicket and guichet

[@egbront1506]

Wardrobe and garderobe is probably the most obvious

[@GlidusFlowers]

“Þú hvat mín vinr”, while being a direct translation for “you what, my friend”, wasn’t used in old norse. This is like saying in English “what say you my friend” to translate “hvat seigr þú, vinr minn”. Also, you used the female version of “mine” (mín), the masculine being “min”. It’s understandable, but weird. Other than that note (which I might be wrong on), loved the video

[@Wotansfogal]

Can you make a video about Frans vlaanderen :)

[@ZoggFromBetelgeuse]

When we speak about languages mixing, we speak a lot about words and sounds, and for good reasons. But what about grammar? Can you mix grammars? Or is it rather like an emulsion, words of one language embedded into the grammar of another? What determines which grammar system prevailes? And how comes that German, for example, has a grammar that seems fashioned after the Latin blueprint?

[@paranoidrodent]

Well, aside from the fact that they're all Indo-European languages and thus share some basic underpinnings, the Germanic peoples (and Celtic peoples) had extensive interaction with the Latin speakers. The Romans interacted a hell of a lot with both and it shows in their languages. Heck, I've read that the old Futhark runes evolved from interactions with the Italian peninsula (Etruscans or Romans, can't remember which). Even after the Romans were gone, the Frankish Empires mixed Vulgar Latin and Gallo-Romance speakers with Germanic language speakers and Germany, France and Italy have a long history of interaction. Grammar tends to be more consistent within a language family while vocabulary gets borrowed all the time, but yes grammar can be borrowed across language families. It's more unusual and generally requires some pretty extensive cultural contact. My own French dialect has some Germanic grammatical borrowings (mostly present in casual speech) that happened in the last few hundred years. Come to think of it, my English dialect also has occasional bits of Romance grammar (borrowed from French). I hear mixed grammar in casual speech fairly often but nowhere near as much as borrowed (and often repurposed) words. I'm certain German could have long ago borrowed some grammar from Latin.

[@jacquelinevanderkooij4301]

Hilbert, there are older written sources of frisian. Charles the Great has ordered to write down the old Judging rules of the vonquered tribes. It was written down partly in Latin and partly in the old languages.

[@BaptisteC1995]

That's really interested, I have some norman blood from my dad sides, and northern-france from he and my mother as well. My dad did a family tree, like big af, from late 17th century - early 18th century to 2018 (no kids since), before marriage, birth and stuff weren't registered. We are originally from the west coast of the North of France really close to the picard border. So I would love to do a DNA test to see where our ancestors are really from, are they Viking, are they Franks? are they Gaelic as well? On the family tree there's nobody born outside of these areas. They all was born in France. Expect for me, cuz my kid is a mixed blood boy and born overseas. Really curious about that

[@vinfacts11]

A video about how American and British accents developed would be great.

[@anglishbookcraft1516]

American accent was frozen in time and the British of today is more of the posh kind. Meaning standard American English is more traditional than newfangled UK English.

[@eliscanfield3913]

Ah, I love it when you speak nerdy to me ;)