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FRENCH WORDS IN LAJAMON

In estimating the influence of French on English, various scholars have compiled lists of French words in early Middle English texts. Thus in A Student's Pastime, pp. 98-102, Skeat has a list of seventeen' French words in the Laud Chronicle (E), and of a large number in Old English Homilies, first series. For the Ormulum, see Kluge, Englische Studien, XXII, 179 ff.; for Genesis and Exodus, see Fritzsche, Anglia, V, 43 ff.

The number of French words in Lazamon's Brut Sir Frederick Madden in 1847 roughly estimated to be, in the earlier text, less than fifty, "of which the later text retains about thirty and adds to them rather more than forty" (Vol. I, p. xxii). Madden's subjoined lists make no pretense at completeness, nor are they wholly accurate. His figures, however, seem to have been somewhat widely accepted as authoritative: cf. Green, Short History of the English People (1874), chap. iii, §1; Koch, Historische Grammatik der englischen Sprache (1882), Vol. I, p. 17; Jusserand, Literary History of the English People (1895), p. 219; Toller, Outlines of the History of the English Language (1900), p. 223; Brooke, English Literature (1901), p. 42. On the other hand, Skeat, Principles of English Etymology (1891), second series, p. 8, and Emerson, History of the English Language (1894), p. 162, give the number of French words in both texts as about 150.

The inaccuracy of Madden's statement was noted by Sturmfels, Anglia, VIII, 207 (1885), and illustrated by lists of words in Morris, Historical Outlines of English Accidence (1872), p. 338. These lists, however, even in the revised edition by Kellner and Bradley (1895), need considerable correction. One word, tumbel, does not occur in Lazamon. The following obviously belong elsewhere: avallen-afallen <OE. afellan; bolle, bowl,' 14298 OE.

1 To Skeat's list should be added: acordedan (1119), canceler (1137), duc (1129), sot- in sotscipe (1131), sotliche (1137), treson (1135); cf. also de in titles (1104, 1106).

2 One word, haleweie (1. 23071), Madden's own later etymology (Vol. III, p. 501) would exclude.

bolla; iburned OE. byrne; crucche 19482 < OE. crycc; ieled 31941-iheled 29991 OE. gehælan; martir is an OE. borrowing directly from Latin; so are mile, munstre, munt, must, nonne, pal, salmes, scole; talie (OE. talian; tavel (OE. tæfl; temple (OE. tempel Lat.; tunne (OE. tunne; warde <OE. weard. Moreover, Lazamon uses some twenty French words not recorded in the Morris lists.

In the interests of definiteness and convenience I have prepared the following new list, adding in parenthesis the French form from which apparently Lazamon drew, and appending references to lines of the text. The list is, I believe, complete; perhaps one or two words are open to question. Words marked with a star are not recorded by Morris; words and forms in italics occur only in the later (B) text. Abbreviations used are AF.=Anglo-French; BS. Bradley-Stratmann's Middle English Dictionary; KL.= Kluge and Lutz's English Etymology; Matz.=Mātzner's dictionary to his Altenglische Sprachproben; NED. New English Dictionary.

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abbey (abbeie) 29717, 29721.

admirail (a (d) miral, -ail) 27668, 27689.

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*alaski, ‘release,' (alaski (e)r> Fr. lâcher) 8838.

anued, 'annoyed,' (anuier) 2259.

appostolie, 'pope,' (apostolie, not OE. apostol) 29614.

archen, 'ark,' (arche) 26, 8965. BS., KL., and Mätz. derive from OE. earc, an early common Teut. borrowing from Lat. The palatalized form suggests Fr. influence. This is the view of NED., which, however, admits that OE. earc may have > arche in some dialects.

*ariued (ariver) 16063.

*ærmi (armer) 15313, armede 8655.

(h)arsun, 'saddle-bow,' (arçon) 2263.

aspide, ‘espied,' (espier, AF. aspier) 19737. Of Teut. origin, OHG. spehōn.

astronomie (astronomie) 24298.

atyr, noun (atirer, verb) 3275. Of Teut. origin (KL.); still doubtful (NED).

*Aueril, April,' (Avril) 24196.

balles, 'balls,' 17443, 24703. Native Teut. (OE. *beallu; cf. bealluc) according to NED., which adds: "In the later ME.' spelling balle, the word coincided graphically with Fr. balle, 'ball, bale,' which has hence been erroneously assumed to be its source." barun (barun) 16921, barunes (gen. sing.) 5319.

biclused, 8698, etc., is rather OE. beclysan direct from Lat. Forms in u are OE.; later forms in o (as in 8698 B) are due to Fr. (NED).

*bitraie (-tra (h)ir) 8923.

*botten, 'bats,' 21513, 21593. BS. derive from OFr. batte and KL., though mentioning OE. batt, prefer the same derivation. Skeat, Notes on Eng. Etymology, s. v., prefers Eng. origin and the plural in -n somewhat strengthens this view. Later forms in -s imply Fr. influence.

bunnen, 'boundary,' (bunne) 1313.

cacchen (cachier) 31501, cahte 4547, icaht 10843. canele, 'cinnamon,' (canele) 17745.

canones (canon) 21861, 24289.

cantel-cape, 29749, an ecclesiastical garment mentioned in Chron. E. 1070. Cantel is OFr. cantel; cape in Laz., as shown by cope of the later text, is <OE. *cāpa=ON. kāpa; cf. next word.

cape, 13097, 29559, capen, 7782, 30849. The usual derivation from OFr. căpe is doubtful. The form cope of the later text points unmistakably to OE. *capa=ON. kāpa. This > NE. cope, whereas Fr. căpe > NE. cape.

*cardinal (cardinal) 29497.

*castel (castel) 188, etc.; frequent in earlier texts; probably for this reason omitted from Morris' list.

catel, 'chattel,' (catel) 30673; also in the form caðel 10023, 10261, through influence of ēdel; cf. adel ēdel 20201.

changede (changer) 3791.

chapel (chapele) 26140.

cheisil, 'linen,' (chaisel) 23761.

*cheres, countenance,' (chère) 18936.

cheueteine (chevetaine) 5879.

1 Laz. is pretty early.

*clærc, 9899, etc., borrowed early from Lat., the forms later coinciding with those from Fr.

cloke (cloke) 13097.

conseil (conseil) 2324.

contre (contré) 1282.

coriun, 'a musical instrument,' 7002. Wace has corun, choron (Madden, III, 473).

cri (cri) 11991, etc., cry 27034.

crune (corone) 4251, etc.

cruneden (coroner) 31935, icrouned 892.

delaie (delai) 17480.

*deolful (doel-; -ful is Eng.) 6901, 11996.

dotie, 'dote,' 3294. KL., Skeat, and NED. explain ME. doten as MDu. doten, whence according to NED. OFr. re-doter is borrowed.

dubben, to 'dub' a knight, (adober) 22497, dubbede 30105, idubbed 19578. Generally assumed to be Fr. (NED.); cf. Skeat, Notes, s.v.

duc (duc) 86, etc.

duszepers, dosseperes, 'the Twelve Peers,' (douze pers) 1622.

eastresse, 'territories,' (estre) 3583.

(h)æremite (eremite) 18763, etc., armite 18800.

*essel, 'bolt, bar,' (aissel) 18992.

eyr ((h)eir) 8990, 23115.

failede (faillir) 2938.

*false (fals) 31550, etc., ualsest 30182.

falsie (falser) 23967, faulsede 30406.

*feste, 'feast,' (feste) 14425.

flum, 'river,' (flum) 542, 1299.

fol, 'fool,' (fol) 1442, etc.

folie (folie) 3024.

*gingiuere, 'ginger,' (gingibre) 17746.

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ginnen, 'deceit,' (for engin Fr. engin) 1323, etc. BS. com

pare ON. ginna, ‘deceive.'

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*hardiere 4348, *hardieste 4181, 14470, comparative and superlative of hardi OFr. hardie, which is of Teut. origin. Hardeliche, 1529, etc., given by Morris, may possibly belong here. Preferably, however, this word is derived, as by Mätz., from OE. heardlice. The forms in the later text result perhaps from a running together of Fr. and Eng.

hiue 790, apparently a ME. åжağ λeyóμevov. Madden, III, 447, equates OFr. hui, huye, and translates 'sound.' This explanation Morris seems to have accepted. Stratmann refers hiue to OE. heof and Matz., s.v. hif, follows Stratmann.

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ire, yr, adj., ‘angry,' 18597. For irre <OE. yrre, possibly influenced by Fr. ire (whence NE. ire). Mätz. is doubtful: "afr. ire, oder steht es für irre, ags. yrre, woneben afries. tre sich findet ?" NED. reports no occurrence of ire before 1300. istored, 'stored,' (estorer) 13412.

kablen, 'cables,' (cable) 1338.

lac, 'lake,' 1280. NED. derives from Fr. lac; KL. pronounce it an early Lat. loan-word = OE. lagu, ‘ocean'; Mätz. remarks: “wenn nicht, wie fr. lac, entlehnt aus lat. lacus, wenigstens urverwandt mit demselben, und später mit ihm zusammengefallen." Cf. also Skeat, Notes, s.v. lake. The word seems to be OE., the sense 'lake' to be Fr.

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latimer, 'Latiner, interpreter,' 14319. Though Madden prints latimer in the text, he has latinier in the glossary, in the list of French words, Vol. I, p. xxii., and in a quotation, Vol. III, p. 354.

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