Grammatical assimilation of borrowed words evidently did not give much trouble to the speakers.They freely added English grammatical endings to the stems of the borrowed words and used them in all grammatical forms like native words:e.g.countable nouns took the universal ending (-e)s in the plural,all the verbs (except strive) became weak and took the suffix –d- to form the Past and Part II.
A most important aspect of assimilation was the participation of borrowed words and their components in word formation.As early as ME some French roots came to be combined with English affixes and other roots,e.g.Late ME verrai–ly,un-fruit
ful,gentil-man,gentil-woman(NE very,unfruitful,gentleman,gentlewoman).These
words are hybrids as their component parts come from different languages.French derivational affixes began to be used in word-building some time later.
Quite a few changes in grammar are to be noted with the borrowing from French into Middle English.On the one hand there are cases where not the infinitive is the model for the loan into English but plural present form of the verb (sometimes unexpectedly).Thus,we have words like resolve which comes from the plural resolvens and not from the resoudre (in which the /u/ indicates that the former /l/ had already vocalized in French).The infinitive which usually forms the point of departure may be borrowed in its entirety.(i.e.with the infinitive ending) in words like “ render ”from French “ render”. In other cases the borrowed infinitive with its
ending became a noun,cf.diner which turned into dinner,the corresponding verb being dine.A further case is user which became user (noun) with the verb use. In
some cases there may be no verb as a result of the change in word class.cf.souper which turned into supper,the verbal paraphrase being “to have supper”.
Evidence for the strong influence of French on Middle English is nowhere as forthcoming as in the area of hybridisation by which is meant that a word consists of two elements, one of Germanic and the other of Romance origin.Let’s consider the following:
(1) The formation of verbal nouns from a French stem and the Germanic ending {ing}: preaching, serving.
(2) The formation of nouns by the addition of Germanic suffixes: {ness}: faintness, secretiveness; {dom}: martyrdom; {ship}: companionship, relationship.
(3) The addition of the ending {ly} (< OE -lich) to French loanwords: {ly}: courtly, princely. The same applies to the following endings {ful}: beautiful, powerful; {less}: colourless, pitiless, noiseless.
The reverse can also be the case, i.e. the ending of a word is French in origin and the stem is Germanic. Consider the following:
(1) The formation of nouns by the addition of suffixes: {age}: mileage, shortage, leakage; {ment}: endearment, enlightenment, bewilderment.
(2) The formation of adjectives by the use of endings: {able}: likeable, loveable, proveable, drinkable, bearable.
In the case of the last examples one can see that many of the French suffixes became productive in English. Indeed the productivity can exceed that of the donor language. This can be seen in the case of the word mutiner ‘to mutiny’ which in English has lead to no less than six forms: mutine, mutinous, mutinously, mutinousness, mutiny, mutineer. The number of word forms may also have developed differently in the course of time, thus English has entry, entrance while Modern French only has entreé, and of course English has the latter as a recent loan meaning ‘something small before starting a full meal’. The height of productivity is reached, however, by the French adjective veri which originally meant ‘true, real, genuine’ (as is seen nowadays in expressions like You're the very man I'm looking for) and which came to be used in Late Middle English as an intensifying adverb and which has retained and expanded this function since. Originally the English adverb full was used as an intensifier and is still found in fixed phrases like You know full well.
4.1 French derivational Affixes in English.
Alongside words,English also adopted some French derivational affixes (both suffixes and prefixes).This was the way it happened.If English had adopted a certain number of words containing the same affix,the affix could now be used to derive new words from French (and occasionally Scandinavian) stems.
A few examples of French derivational affixes used in English to derive new words are already found in ME:husbandry,goddess.However,a wider spread of the procedure is a fact of the MnE period.
Suffixes.
A number of French substantives were derived by means of the suffix “ance,ence; “ignorance, arrogance, entrance, repentance, innocence, excellence,
dependence,etc”.The meaning of the suffix became clear to English speakers,and this made possible derivation of new substantives from native English stems,such as hindrance from the stem of the native English verb “hinder”.
Both Dalton-Puffer and Miller propose that French derivational suffixes became productive in Late Middle English.
- esse - is employed to form feminine nouns from other nouns. The suffix appears
in fairly large number of loans dating from 1160 onwards.The first attested borrowings are “countesse” the wife of a count or an earl is emperice “the consort of an empera” from the Peterborough Chronicle.Later loans are,e.g,clergesse “a learned woman”,grateresse “a female grater”.
According to Jespersen and Marchand –esse was a profilic formative occurring on English bases in the 14th century,or even the latter part of this century,judging by the examples they quote.The suffux did appear,however,in hybrids already in the early 13th century and in a variety of instances in the late 13th and the first half of the 14th century MED records it in “bolleresse” a woman who makes bowls; disheresse “a woman who makes or sells dishes”; clerkesse “a learned woman”,
breuresse “a female brewer”and shepherdesse “a female keeper of sheep;also “the
wife of a shepherd,gloveresse “a female glove maker;prioresse “prioress and maistresse,governess”.
-age –is employed to form nouns denoting state or rank from other nouns or to convert verbs into nouns of various meaning.The French loan-words with-age are also numerous and started to appear at the beginning of the ME period.The first borrowing according to MED is pilgrimage “a pilgrimage originally found in Kentish Serionons (1275) and later in the South English Legendary(1300),Guy of Warwick (1300).Early borrowings with date of their first occurance are “hermitage” “a hermitage” (The place-names of the East Riding of Yorkshire and York 1280) pelrinage “ a pilgrimage”,servage “servitudes, bondage, slavery
and taillage “a royal land tax,barnage “the nobility and passage” the act of crossing or passing from one place to another.
-erie -is a suffix forming nouns which denote professions or crafts,as well as the collectivity of their members or products or “quality of behavior”,sometimes also rank or conditions.The suffix may be added to nouns,verbs and adjectives.
The French loan-words containing the suffix are abundant and the first is “druerie”
love between God and man or affection.Other examples: daierie “a pantry”,reverie “robbery,portmanrie “the rank of portman or free citizen.
- ment had penetrated into English as part of such substantives as “government”, “treatment”, “agreement” and was used to derive new substantives from native stems fulfillment, bereavement, amazement, bewilderment,etc.The suffix forms
mostly nouns of action,result,state or condition from verbs.The first loan-words from French were found in Ancrene Wisse,e.g,amendement “improvement or chastisement”,admonition,judgement “discernment”,amonestement “temptation” and commencement“beginning”,corounement“the reign of a sovereign”,enchaunte-
ment “magic power and amendement”,improvement;comberment “trouble,distress,
etc.According to Jespersen the ending –ment did not come to be considered as an E formation till the latter part of the 13th century.Dalton-Puffer claims that the suffix
-ment is unusual in the sense that it shows an abrupt growth in productivity already in the subperiod of ME from 1250 to 1350.
A number of French substantives contained the diminutive suffix – et,such as coronet “small crown”,cabinet.In some words the final consonant of the stem was
-l,as in islet,circlet. It is from words of this type that the suffix –let was formed,
which was eventually joined on to native stems to derive the substantives streamlet
ringlet,leaflet,booklet,etc.
The French suffix –é, used to derive the past participle of French group I verbs (from Latin –atum) penetrated into English as a part of some substantives denoting “a person taking a possessive part in some action or agreement”,such as lesse,
employee. Eventually the suffix was joined on to a Scandinavian stem to derive the substantive trustee.
The suffix – ard (of German origin) penetrated into English as a part of the substantives coward,bastard. Joined on to native English stems it yielded the substantives “wizard” (from the stem of the adjective wīs),drunkard,dullard;joined on to a Scandinavian stem,it yielded the substantive “niggard”.
The suffix – al (from French – aille),used to derive abstract substantives from verb stems,penetrated into English as part of the substantives funeral,refusal,arrival
proposal.Eventually it was joined on to an English stem to derive the substantive burial.
The suffix – able,-ible, deriving adjectives which mean “capable of undergoing the action denoted by the verb stem”, came into English as of the adjectives admirable,tolerable,legible,flexible. Eventually it was joined on to native stems to derive the adjectives readable,unbearable,understandable,etc.
Prefixes.
Some French prefixes also became productive in English. Thus, the prefix dis-,
des- with a negative meaning,came into English as part of the French verbs disappoint,disdain,disagree and was eventually used to derive verbs from native stems: disown,disburden, and from a Scandinavian stem: distrust.
The French prefix en- (from Latin in-), familiar from such words as encompass,
encircle,encage, was joined on to native stems to derive to verbs endear, embed
(enb->emb-).