It’s easy to hear the word ‘Norman’ and picture a singular, monolithic force descending upon England in 1066. William the Conqueror, his knights, and a unified language. But as anyone who’s delved into the history of language knows, reality is rarely that neat. The term ‘Anglo-Norman’ itself, while familiar, might actually be a bit of a simplification, a shorthand that doesn’t quite capture the full, vibrant picture.
Think about it: William’s army wasn’t just made up of men from Normandy. It was a much more diverse crew, hailing from various corners of France. And over the centuries that followed, the language spoken and written in Britain wasn't just the tongue of the initial invaders. It was a living, breathing entity, shaped by all sorts of people from different backgrounds, each with their own level of fluency, from near-native speakers to those just picking up the basics.
This is where terms like ‘Anglo-French’ or ‘The French of England’ start to feel more accurate. They acknowledge that heterogeneous mix, the evolving nature of the language. Even early dictionaries, like Robert Kelham’s from 1779, hinted at this broader scope, calling it ‘A Dictionary of the Norman and Old French Language,’ suggesting an awareness that it wasn't solely Norman.
The effort to document this fascinating linguistic landscape, particularly through resources like the Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND), has been a long and evolving journey. The revised edition, AND2, is a testament to that. It’s not just a bigger book; it’s a deeper dive, thanks in large part to the meticulous work of scholars like J.P. Collas and Elsie Shanks. Collas’s extensive collection of material from a wide array of texts, both literary and, crucially, non-literary, alongside Shanks’s pioneering work on Law French, has transformed our understanding.
What’s particularly exciting is the inclusion of texts from the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. These were once overlooked, perhaps seen as less ‘pure’ or less culturally significant than the epic romances. But these prose documents – dealing with the nitty-gritty of government, law, estate management, and everyday life – offer an invaluable window into how the language was actually used. They often disregard the strict phonological ‘rules’ that earlier scholars, in their quest for a standardized medieval French, might have imposed. Modern scholarship, thankfully, has moved beyond those rigid assumptions.
These later texts, often in prose and reflecting practical concerns, are vital. They show a language in action, not just in carefully crafted verse. By incorporating them, AND2 promises to be more than three times the size of its predecessor, but more importantly, it vastly expands the range of source material. It’s this richer, more inclusive approach that truly illuminates the complex and dynamic evolution of the French spoken and written in Britain for centuries.
