It has. French was the language of the aristocracy in England for several centuries after the 1066 Norman conquest, giving rise to a sort of linguistic duality

It has. French was the language of the aristocracy in England for several centuries after the 1066 Norman conquest, giving rise to a sort of linguistic duality of French and Anglo-Saxon words in English mirroring the social divide. Thus Saxon-derived words tend to be more down-to-earth than their more elevated French-derived equivalents.