Languages evolve and those changes can be triggered in different ways. Contact with foreign nations, revolutions and even the influence of pop culture can be catalysts of linguistic changes.
It’s generally well known that French is a Romance language that takes root in Vulgar Latin. The major shifts of the language were recorded in eras that could last a few centuries. The French spoken from the 14th to the 16th century is called Middle French.
How exactly does Middle French differ from Modern French?
Here’s a text taken from “The Heptameron” (1558) by Marguerite de Navarre:
Middle French
“Seigneur, prens l’ame en tes mains, de celluy qui n’a espargné sa vie pour exalter ton nom!” Le gentil homme nommé Jehan voyant que avecq ses parolles la vie luy defailloit, embrassa, luy et la croix de l’épée qu’il tenait, pour le cuyder secourrir; …
Modern French
“Seigneur, prends entre tes mains l’âme de celui qui n’a pas épargné sa vie pour glorifier ton nom!” Le gentilhomme nommé Jean voyant qu’avec ses paroles, la vie lui défaillait, l’embrassa ainsi que la croix de l’épée qu’il tenait, croyant lui porter secours; …
English
“O’ Lord, take the soul of whom didn’t spare his life to glorify thy name!” A gentleman named John, seeing with his words that his life was fainting, kissed him and the cross of the sword he was bearing, believing to rescue him…
Main Differences
Comparing the versions, we can notice that a few changes occurred. From Middle to Modern French linguists would note that the language evolved in various ways. That said, the following will be focusing on the aspects that are displayed in the example.
Spelling
One important change is the way the words are spelled. Let’s look at a few examples:
- celluy ➡️ celui (the one)
- espargné ➡️ épargné (spare)
- avecq ➡️ avec (with)
- defailloit ➡️ défaillait (fainting)
In general, the spelling reform followed patterns. Here are some more examples:
- foy ➡️ foi (faith)
- peult-estre ➡️ peut-être (maybe)
- doncques ➡️ donc (therefore)
- aymoit ➡️ aimait (loved/liked)
Interestingly, Jehan became Jean in Modern French but in English, John usually is still spelled with a “h”.
Syntax
The word order did also slightly shift. To the untrained eye, it would sometimes be hard for a French speaker to make sense of Middle French sentences at the first read.
Morphology
Over time, words were replaced or stopped being used. We can see an example of the trend with the verb “cuyder” (latin: cogitare). Nowadays, French speakers would use verbs such as “penser” (thinking) or “croire” (believing).
However, it’s the author’s opinion that a very high percentage of people never heard of the verb “cuyder”.
Semantics
Another example of language shift that we can find from the text is the verb “Exalter” for which the author translated to “Glorifier” (to glorify).
The meaning or use of a word can sometimes change. “Exalter” could still have the meaning of glorifying, nonetheless the most common way it’s being used is by conveying a sense of making stronger or better.
Finally, it’s astonishing to see that such dramatic changes could take place over the course of 5 centuries. At the pace languages can change, one can only wonder what his own language will look like in 500 years from now!
WePolyglot. 