A History of English Language

Middle english 161
all the words in this list being in use in Chaucer’s time: able, abundant, active, actual,
amiable, amorous, barren, blank, brief, calm, certain, chaste, chief, clear, common,
contrary, courageous, courteous, covetous, coy, cruel, curious, debonair, double, eager,
easy, faint, feeble, fierce, final, firm, foreign, frail, frank, gay, gentle, gracious, hardy,
hasty, honest, horrible, innocent, jolly, large, liberal, luxurious, malicious, mean, moist,
natural, nice, obedient, original, perfect, pertinent, plain, pliant, poor, precious,
principal, probable, proper, pure, quaint, real, rude, safe, sage, savage, scarce, second,
secret, simple, single, sober, solid, special, stable, stout, strange, sturdy, subtle, sudden,
supple, sure, tender, treacherous, universal, usual A list of the verbs borrowed at the
same time shows equal diversity. Examples are: advance, advise, aim, allow, apply,
approach, arrange, arrive, betray, butt, carry, chafe, change, chase, close, comfort,
commence, complain, conceal, consider, continue, count, cover, covet, cry, cull, deceive,
declare, defeat, defer, defy, delay, desire, destroy, embrace, enclose, endure, enjoy, enter,
err, excuse, flatter, flourish, force, forge, form, furnish, grant, increase, nform, inquire,
join, languish, launch, marry, mount, move, murmur, muse, nourish, obey, oblige,
observe, pass, pay, pierce, pinch, please, practise, praise, prefer, proceed, propose,
prove, purify, pursue, push, quash, quit, receive, refuse, rejoice, relieve, remember, reply,
rinse, rob, satisfy, save, scald, serve, spoil, strangle, strive, stun, succeed, summon,
suppose, surprise, tax, tempt, trace, travel, tremble, trip, wait, waive, waste, wince.
Finally, the influence of French may be seen in numerous phrases and turns of
expression, such as to take leave, to draw near, to hold one’s peace, to come to a head, to
do justice, or make believe, hand to hand, on the point of, according to, subject to, at
large, by heart, in vain, without fail. In these and other phrases, even when the words are
English the pattern is French. 17
These four lists have been presented for the general impression which they create and
as the basis for an inference which they clearly justify. This is, that so far as the
vocabulary is concerned, what we have in the influence of the Norman Conquest is a
merging of the resources of two languages, a merger in which thousands of words in
common use in each language became partners in a reorganized concern. English retains
a controlling interest, but French as a large minority stockholder supplements and rounds
out the major organization in almost every department.
131. Anglo-Norman and Central French.
It will be observed that the French words introduced into English as a result of the
Norman Conquest often present an appearance quite different from that which they have
in Modern French. This is due first of all to subsequent developments that have taken
place in the two languages. Thus the OF feste passed into Middle English as feste,
whence it has become feast in Modern English, while in French the s disappeared before
other consonants at the end of the twelfth century and we have in Modern French the
form fête. The same difference appears in forest—
17
See the references on page 167.