#4 What Is Old French ?｜French Language Column

When you trace the history of French, you may come across the term Old French. If you have only recently started learning French, this term may not be very familiar to you.

However, if you want to understand modern French more deeply, learning about Old French is very important.

This is because many features of modern French—such as the gap between spelling and pronunciation, complex verb conjugations, and changes in nouns and adjectives—can be traced back to the Old French period.

In other words, learning about Old French helps you understand why modern French has developed into its current form.

In this article, I will explain what Old French is, when it was used, and what kinds of features it had.

1. What Is Old French?

Old French refers to an early form of French that was used roughly from the 9th to the 14th century.

It was the stage of French that developed from Latin before becoming the modern French we know today.

The history of French is often divided roughly as follows:

1. Latin
2. Vulgar Latin
3. Old French
4. Middle French
5. Early Modern French
6. Modern French

Within this historical flow, Old French can be seen as the first distinctly “French-like” language that emerged from Vulgar Latin. I think the easiest way to understand it is to regard Old French as the ancestor of modern French.

Of course, people at the time did not call their own language “Old French.” This is a term used by later linguists for classification.

2. How Old French Developed

The origin of Old French lies in Latin. When the Roman Empire ruled Gaul, which corresponds roughly to present-day France, Latin spread throughout the region.

However, the Latin spoken there was not literary Classical Latin, but Vulgar Latin, the everyday spoken form of Latin. This Vulgar Latin developed differently from region to region.

In Gaul, the following factors influenced linguistic change:

• Celtic influence from Gaulish
• Regional pronunciation habits
• Germanic influence from the Franks
• Changes in medieval society

Among these, the influence of the Franks was especially significant.

The Franks were a Germanic people, and their language differed greatly from Latin. As the Franks became the ruling class, the Latin spoken in Gaul underwent new changes in vocabulary and pronunciation.

As a result of these long-term changes, by around the 9th century, the language had reached a stage where it could no longer be considered the same as Classical Latin. This was Old French.

3. Where Old French Was Spoken

An important point here is that medieval France did not have a unified standard French like the one used today. Different languages and dialects were spoken depending on the region.

Two particularly well-known groups were:

• Langue d’oïl
• Langue d’oc

These names come from the words used to mean “yes.” In northern France, people used “oïl,” while in southern France, people used “oc.”

Later, the “langue d’oïl” spoken in northern France became the foundation of standard French.

4. Grammatical Features of Old French

The grammar of Old French preserved more features from Latin than modern French does. One major difference was the existence of case forms.

Latin had a complex case system, but in Old French this system was simplified. Mainly, two cases were used:

• Nominative case (cas sujet)
• Oblique case (cas régime)

The nominative case was used for the subject of a sentence. The oblique case was used for other roles, such as objects or words following prepositions.

For example, the Old French word for “king” had forms such as:

• li reis : the king, as the subject
• le rei : the king, as an object or in other non-subject roles

In a sentence, this looks like the following:

• Li reis tient la cité.
  （The king controls the city.）

Here, “li reis” is the subject, so it appears in the nominative form.

By contrast:

• Il voit le rei.
  （He sees the king.）

Here, “le rei” is the object, so it appears in the oblique form.

In this way, in Old French, the form of a noun could change depending on its role in the sentence.

In modern French, this kind of noun case distinction has almost disappeared. The same sentences would be expressed as:

• Le roi tient la cité.
  （The king controls the city.）
• Il voit le roi.
  （He sees the king.）

In modern French, “le roi” is used in both cases.

In other words, Old French used noun forms themselves to show grammatical roles, while modern French mainly uses word order and prepositions.

5. Old French Pronunciation

Old French pronunciation was quite different from modern French pronunciation.

Many final consonants that are silent in modern French are thought to have been pronounced in Old French.

This is one reason why modern French spelling may seem complicated: the spelling often preserves traces of older pronunciation.

For example, in modern French, the final consonants of the following words are usually not pronounced:

• petit
• grand
• temps

In earlier periods, however, these consonants were pronounced more clearly. In this sense, modern silent letters are not meaningless letters. They are traces of linguistic history.

6. Old French Vocabulary

Old French developed on the basis of Latin while also receiving influence from several other languages.

It was influenced by Celtic Gaulish, Germanic Frankish, and later medieval Norman elements.

For example, Old French included words such as the following:

As you can see, many Old French words are very similar to their modern French equivalents.

Words such as “cheval, terre, maison,” and “parler” are almost identical to modern French.

On the other hand, some words changed in spelling. For example, “cuer” became modern French “cœur,” and “seignor” became “seigneur,” with changes in both appearance and pronunciation.

By looking at Old French vocabulary, you can see both continuity and change between Old French and modern French.

7. What Did Old French Leave to Modern French?

Old French is not merely a language of the past. Its importance lies in the fact that it formed the foundation of modern French.

Many features of modern French had already begun to take shape during the Old French period, including:

• many silent letters
• the gap between spelling and pronunciation
• complex verb conjugations
• grammatical gender
• agreement of adjectives and past participles

These features did not suddenly appear. During the Old French period, many final consonants that are now silent were still pronounced. Over time, pronunciation became simpler and these sounds disappeared, while the letters often remained in writing.

As a result, modern French developed a large gap between spelling and pronunciation.

Old French also preserved many grammatical structures inherited from Latin. Although the grammar became simpler over time, features such as noun gender and verb conjugation systems continued into modern French.

In terms of vocabulary as well, Old French left a major influence on modern French. Many everyday words have continued to be used since the Old French period, even though their forms have changed.

In this way, Old French was an important language that strongly shaped the development of modern French.

8. Summary

Old French was the ancestor of modern French and was used roughly from the 9th to the 14th century.

Its development involved several factors:

Old French also had many features that differ from modern French:

At the same time, Old French already contained the foundations that would later lead to modern French.

Old French is, in a sense, the past form of the French language itself. If you want to understand modern French more deeply, learning about its ancestor, Old French, is an important step.