3 ms·

> During this period, more than 10,000 loanwords from French entered the English language, mostly in domains where the aristocracy held sway: the arts, military

> During this period, more than 10,000 loanwords from French entered the English language, mostly in domains where the aristocracy held sway: the arts, military, medicine, law and religion. One interesting aspect where this is very visible in the english language is meat-related language. Raw food and animals words, butchered by the common people have mostly germanic/saxon roots that have nothing in common with french words, e.g. lamb, chicken, pork, beef, etc. But cooked/processed meat has mostly french-derived words: sausage, charcuterie, cutlet, fillet, grill, sirloin, roast, stew..

b3orn 3y ago
I think you mixed up the words a little, pork and beef are of French origin, compare with modern French porc and bœuf, the germanic words are pig and cow.
ntr-- 3y ago
It was once pointed out to me that French derived vocabulary is avoided in received pronunciation, compare: - Napkin / serviette - Lavatory or loo / toilet - Graveyard / cemetery see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_and_non-U_English https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_and_non-U_English
- TRiG_Ireland 3y ago
  There are also some words derived from French but pronounced in a very non-French manner. The t in valet should be fully pronounced. Making the word sound French is a non-U hypercorrection.
  - denton-scratch 3y ago
    > Making the word sound French is a non-U hypercorrection. I disagree that pronouncing it "VALLay" is hypercorrection. Proper French pronunciation would be "vallAY" (with the emphasis on the second syllable). At any rate, my language background is upper-middle-class English English, and nobody pronounced the word "valitt". That's an americanism, as far as I'm concerned. As a consequence, I've always struggled with the word when used to mean cleaning e.g. a car interior. FWIW, I understand that the "U and non-U" thing was meant as a joke, was horribly snobbish, and was anchored in a particular stratum of early 20th-C English society.

b3orn 3y ago

I think you mixed up the words a little, pork and beef are of French origin, compare with modern French porc and bœuf, the germanic words are pig and cow.

ntr-- 3y ago

It was once pointed out to me that French derived vocabulary is avoided in received pronunciation, compare: - Napkin / serviette - Lavatory or loo / toilet - Graveyard / cemetery see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_and_non-U_English https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_and_non-U_English

TRiG_Ireland 3y ago
There are also some words derived from French but pronounced in a very non-French manner. The t in valet should be fully pronounced. Making the word sound French is a non-U hypercorrection.
- denton-scratch 3y ago
  > Making the word sound French is a non-U hypercorrection. I disagree that pronouncing it "VALLay" is hypercorrection. Proper French pronunciation would be "vallAY" (with the emphasis on the second syllable). At any rate, my language background is upper-middle-class English English, and nobody pronounced the word "valitt". That's an americanism, as far as I'm concerned. As a consequence, I've always struggled with the word when used to mean cleaning e.g. a car interior. FWIW, I understand that the "U and non-U" thing was meant as a joke, was horribly snobbish, and was anchored in a particular stratum of early 20th-C English society.