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Thursday, 13 February 2014
Faux amis or False friends?
English contains numerous words that we have "borrowed" from other languages, especially French. It was the Normans, who under the leadership of William I (Guillaume) came to England to fight over the English throne with his relative Harold, whom he defeated at the battle of Hastings in 1066. The Normans spoke Old French, based on Latin, whereas Harold and his followers spoke a Germanic Language.Thanks to the Norman invasion, the English language changed beyond all recognition, but as the language continued to evolve so did many of the original meanings of the words that they brought with them. We call these words "false friends" or "faux amis".. Over the years the meanings of many of the original French words that arrived with Guillaume have changed too, this is probably due to England being an island, isolated from any changes effecting its cousin across the channel in France.
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