Questions tagged [ancien-français]

Questions concernant les langues romanes appartenant à la famille des langues d'oïl et parlées à partir du VIIIe siècle jusqu'au XIVe siècle environ.

47 questions
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old French: How was "ie" pronounced before "ie" turned into "je"?

I learned a few days ago that "j" is a fairly new letter. I looked up some samples of antique French books (pre-1633) and found a lot of words like (Saint)"Iaques", "ie", "iamais", "iambon", "iamais", "Ieanne"(d'arc), "iour", "iouer", "iolis". A…
Dmytro
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6
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1 answer

Old French sentence on a cannon

I am trying to understand the following sentence in old French which is about the construction of a cannon: le louage d'une bigorne en quoy les sercles, lians et agneaux du dit canon ont este drechiez et mis a point Google translate completely…
Doogie Drusard
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3
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1 answer

Pronunciation of the medieval name Oresme

I am reading about the French medieval 'scientist' Nicole Oresme (approx 1325-1382) and wondering how his last name was pronounced in those days. Was the 's' pronounced? And the last 'e'?
2
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1 answer

Current pronunciation of ancient impartait ending -oit

Up to the end of the 18th century, it was common in literary French to use the -oi- diphthong for the imperfect singular, writing e.g. “il regardoit” instead of the modern “il regardait”. How is one supposed to read the old ending nowadays? What was…
1
vote
2 answers

Are there any archaic features in this passage

This speech is spoken by Bloch in Proust. It was translated into English using a few archaisms. Are there are any French Archaisms in it, that is expressions that would have been archaic in 1913. 'Par Apollon' I wouldn't consider to be archaic…
bobsmith76
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vote
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How does ancient French in this video differ from modern French?

For reference here is the video. The lyrics go as follow. Il y a une meson en Orleans Qui se sousnomme le Soleil levant Et ele fu la ruine de maint garsilleurs Dont fui aussi partant…. Ma mere estoit une taillieuse Qui cousit mes braies de lin Mon…
Neil Meyer
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1
vote
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What was the structure of a french name in the old days?

My (deceased) grandmother's birth name appears in the Registers as [Lebègue, Sabas Marie Eva] and her sister's name [Lebègue, Marie Daule Georges]. They both were born in Martinique around 1885. We used to call them Eva and Georgette,…
user50334
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1 answer

Old French dialogue

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. Is the French used in it accurate? Can someone…
Snaut
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