This paper aims to survey and analyze the loarnwors in Middle English in the viewpoint of the Norman Conquest which influenced the existing words of Old English and changed their pronunciation and forms so greatly that Middle English might be a langua...
This paper aims to survey and analyze the loarnwors in Middle English in the viewpoint of the Norman Conquest which influenced the existing words of Old English and changed their pronunciation and forms so greatly that Middle English might be a language seemingly different from Old English which had also been called Anglo-Saxon language before the Norman Conquest in 1066.
The impact of the Norman Conquest on the Old English language, like that made by the earlier Norse-speaking invaders, was to a large extent confined to the word stock, though Middle English also showed some instances of the influence of French idioms. A huge body of French words were ultimately to become part of the English vocabulary, many of them replacing English words that would have done for us just as well.
Just as French words were borrowed, so too were French spelling conventions. Some of the apparent innovations in Middle English spelling were, in fact, a return to earlier conventions.
Therefore suffice the influence of the Norman Conquest on Old English to point out here merely that Middle English acquired, as it were, a new look, even though this paper would not survey and analyze all the loanwords borrowed in the Middle English period.