Why did English borrow so many words from Norman French?
Compare the situation with the Celtic flight before the Angles, Saxons and Jutes. The key is the Prestige of Frenchbut need to interpret this matter more sensitivelywhile Norman French was the initial influence, this lasted only a hundred years. There were two waves of borrowing — one dating from the first 150 years of Norman control; the second dating from the period after England had lost her French possessions. The dividing line is 1250. There are interesting differences between these two wavesbefore 1250, we find the borrowings fall into several groups: names for social roles and occupations that the lower classes would become familiar with through contact with a French-speaking nobility: baron, noble, dame, servant, messenger, feast, minstrel, juggler, largesse. Labels introduced to English through literary channels: story, rime, lay. Church terms (largest single group) the need to transfer doctrine and belief from the clergy to the people accounts for the frequent transfer of wo
