Fashions, Meals, and Social Life
Army and Navy
The large part which war played in English affairs in the Middle Age, the fact that the control of the army and navy was in the hands of those who spoke French, and the circumstance that much of English fighting was done in France all resulted in the introduction into English of a number of French military terms.
Many of them were acquired by the French in the course of their wars in Italy during the XVI th century. Nevertheless we still use medieval French words when we speak of the army and the navy, of peace, enemy, arms, battle, combat, skirmish, siege, defense, ambush, stratagem, retreat, soldier, garrison, guard, spy, and we hare kept the names of officers such as captain, lieutenant, sergeant. We recognize at once having had greater significance words like dart, lance, banner, mail, buckler, archer, chieftain. Verbs like to arm, array, harness, brandish, besiege, defend, among many, suffice to remind us of this important French elements in our vocabulary.
That the upper classes should have set the standard in fashion and dress is obvious. The words fashion and dress are themselves French, as are apparel, habit, gown, robe, garment, attire, cape, cloak, coat, frock, collar, veil, train, chemise, petticoat. So too are lace, embroidery, pleat, buckle, button, plume, and the names of such articles as kerchief, mitten, garter, galoshes, and boots. The colours blue, brown, vermilion, scarlet, saffron, russet, and tawny are French borrowings of this period. Jewel, ornament, brooch, chaplet, ivory, and enamel point to the luxuries of the wealthy, and it is significant that the names of all the more -familiar precious stones are French: turquoise, amethyst, topaz, garnet, ruby, emerald, sapphire, pearl, diamond, crystal, coral, beryl.
The French-speaking classes brought about not only such words as dinner and supper but also the words feast, repast, collation, mess, appetite, taste, sustenance. The menue consisted of mackerel, sole, perch, bream, sturgeon, salmon, sardine, oyster - fish; venison, beef, veal, mutton, pork, bacon, sausage, tripe - meat, with a choice of loin, chine, haunch, brawn, and with gravy included; among fowl, poultry, pullet, pigeon. One could have pottage, gruel, toast, biscuit, cream, sugar, olives, salad, lettuce, and for dessert almonds, and many fruits, including raisin, fig, grape, orange, lemon, cherry, peach, or a confection, pasty, tart, jelly, treacle. Among seasoning we find spice, clove, thyme, herb, mustard, vinegar, marjoran, cinnamon, nutmeg. The verbs roast, boil, stew, fry, blanch, grate, and mince describe various culinary processes and goblet, saucer, cruet, plate, plattes suggest French refinements in the serving of meals. Would the English table have been like that if it had not been for the Norman Conquest?
While the loss of inflections and the consequent simplification of English grammar were only indirectly due to the use of French in England, French influence is much more direct and observable upon the vocabulary.
Although the influx of French words was brought about by the victory of the Conqueror and by the political and social consequences of that victory, it was neither sudden nor immediately apparent. Rather it began slowly and continued with varying tempo for a long time. The large number of French words borrowed during the Middle Ages has made it easy for us to go on borrowing and the close cultural relations between France and England in all subsequent periods have furnished a constant opportunity for the transfer of words. But there was a time in the centuries following the Conquest when this movement had its start and a stream of French words poured into English with a momentum that continued until toward the end of the Middle English period.
In this movement two stages can be observed, an earlier and a later, with the year 1250 as the approximate dividing line. When we study the French words appearing in English before 1250, roughly 900 in number, we find that many of them were such as the lower classes would become familiar with through contact with a French-speaking nobility (baron, noble, dame, servant, messenger, feast, minstrel, juggler). Others owed their introduction into English to literary channels.
The upper classes carried over into English an astonishing number of common French words. In changing from French to English they transferred much of their governmental and administrative vocabulary, their ecclesiastical, legal and military terms, their familiar words of fashion, food, and social life, the vocabulary of art, learning, and medicine.