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In Season 4 Episode 3 of the TV Series Vikings, there is a scene where the warrior Rollo (850-932), now known as the first Duke of Normandy, is taught French by a priest.

Here is a link to that scene.

  1. Is the French used in it accurate?

  2. Can someone provide a transcription of what is said?

jlliagre
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Snaut
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  • Link only answers should be avoid. The question shall be at least understandable without having to watch the linked video. – XouDo Sep 23 '21 at 12:17

1 Answers1

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Unlike a previous "bardcore" video, that one shows no English accent and some effort to resemble the old French grammar. It is however still far too modern compared to the French that was, we believe, spoken in the 8th century. The oldest French text, the Oaths of Strasbourg (842), is closer to Latin and mostly unintelligible to French speakers:

Pro Deo amur et pro christian poblo et nostro commun salvament, d'ist di en avant, in quant Deus savir et podir me dunat, si salvarai eo, cist meon fradre Karlo, et in aiudha, et in cadhuna cosa, si cum om per dreit son fradra salvar dift, in o quid il mi altresi fazet, et ab Ludher nul plaid nunquam prindrai, qui meon vol cist meon fradre Karle in damno sit.

The pronunciation sounds a little bit too modern too. For example the diphtongs ui (sui, fui) is pronounced like it would be in current French (See Eau qui dort's comment).

Here is a transcription attempt of the dialogue:

Li Dus Rollo é/est a? non : Le Duc Rollo, voilà/est ? nom
Par moult sui liets de vos connoistre : je suis de très en liesse de vous connaître
Por bien, si pourrez, mes lèvres guardez : Pour bien, oui vous pourrez, (re)gardez mes lèvres
Païens sauvages fui, mais ores sui riches ver? de grant estre : J'étais un païen sauvage, mais aujourd'hui je suis riche ? de grand être (état?)

jlliagre
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    the last line begins by "paiens sauvages fui". I'm not sure what the /vɛr/ in that line means. One of the comments on the youtube video seems to think it's a loan from germanic *weraz, but you'd expect the initial /w/ to develop into /gw/ instead (as in loup-garou, also from that root) – Eau qui dort Sep 23 '21 at 11:07
  • One of the inaccuracies that come immediately to mind is the diphthong ui, pronounced as in modern French instead of the falling diphthong it was at the time (probably /yɪ̯/) – Eau qui dort Sep 23 '21 at 11:09
  • a? non . ? Means you are not sure of the dialogue or is that some pronunciation mark? – Snaut Sep 24 '21 at 04:22
  • There are two words for which I cannot find a match in Old French, this /a/ and later /vɛr/. I'm expecting the first one to be "my" (Duke Rollo, Here/that is my name) but it doesn't sound like any known variants of mon, mien. The second has been suggested to be the germanic weraz but Eau qui dort is skeptical. It might also be the Latin vir (man) but there is no report of its direct usage in French. – jlliagre Sep 24 '21 at 09:16