Burrows and Turville-Petre (1992) draw attention to the fact that, during the period 1150-1400, there were three working languages in England. Latin, was the language of the church and diplomacy; French was spoken by royalty and the aristocracy and was the recognized medium of communication within the legal and administrative systems; and English was the language of the common people.

Burrows and Turville-Petre (1992) add that it was through the influences of these languages together with the earlier impact of Scandinavian vocabulary that the Middle English lexicon was more varied than that of Old English

However, because the material examined to date makes no mention of any Latin influence on Yorkshire dialect, the analysis in this section is confined to the impact of the French language. Consideration is initially given to Standard English forms after which the etymologies of selected dialect words are examined. All the examples relating to dialect are drawn variously from Hughes (2000), Kellett (1994), Paynter, Upton and Widdowson (1997), Wakelin (1977) and Thompson (1996).

The influence of French

Baugh and Cable (1993) claim that, arising out of the Norman conquest and the social and political outcome thereof, the influence of the French language was neither immediate nor obvious. The influx of French vocabulary began slowly and continued over a lengthy period of time. However, once the process started it progressively gathered momentum which was maintained up to the close of the Middle English period.

Baugh and Cable (1993) also highlight the fact that there were two stages of borrowings, the first phase concluding around AD 1250 at the outset of the second. In the period prior to 1250, approximately 900 French words, many of which were connected to the church (e.g. religion, homily, penance), were absorbed into the English language. However, the most profuse intake of French borrowings occurred after this date. It was in this period that the upper classes began to favour the use of English over French. In this process of change a considerable amount of French vocabulary was carried over into English. For example, the new words related to, inter alia, government and administration (authority, parliament, revenue), law (justice, crime, equity) fashion, (garment, frock, petticoat) food (sturgeon, pork, biscuit) etc.

It should however be noted, as pointed out by Burnley (2000), that in the early stages and for some time after the Conquest the French employed was the Norman dialect. From the mid-13th century, however, the predominant form was that of the Ile de France (i.e. Central French). The following table illustrates the differences between the two:

Quite often, the influx of French words resulted in duplication. That is to say, where an incoming word would have the same meaning as an existing native word, either one of the words would be ultimately lost (often the English one) or both would survive but with different meanings. For example:

Some French words were borrowed twice, firstly from Norman French and later from Central French, with the subsequent development of semantic differences. Hughes (2000) provides the following examples:

Yorkshire Dialect words of Old French origin

Although, as stated earlier, the language of the common people was generally English, they must have had some exposure to French. For example, the French-speaking stewards of the Norman estates would have been in regular contact with the local populace. In any event, there are a number of Yorkshire dialect words of French origin:

Sources

Baugh, A.C. and Cable, T. (1993) A History of the English Language, Fourth Edition, London: Routledge.

Burnley, D. (2000) The History of the English Language: a source book, Second Edition, London: Longman.

Burrows, J. A. and Turville-Petre, T. (1992) A Book of Middle English, Oxford: Blackwell.

Hughes, G. (2000) A History of English Words, Oxford: Blackwell.

Kellett, A. (1994) The Yorkshire Dictionary of Dialect, Tradition and Folklore, Otley: Smith Settle.

Paynter, D., Upton, C. and Widdowson, J. D. A. (1997) Yorkshire Words Today: A Glossary of Regional Dialect, Sheffield: The Yorkshire Dialect Society and The National Centre for English Cultural Tradition, The University of Sheffield.

Thompson, D. (ed.) (1996) The Concise Oxford Dictionary, Ninth Edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Wakelin, M. F. (1977) English Dialects: An Introduction, London: The Athlone Press.