What if French was a Germanic language (German, English, Dutch, etc) instead of a Romance language (Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, etc)? What would world history look like? What changes would be made to the French vocabulary?
Erm... If it's from a whole different language family, it's most of it, as it would be a completely different language.What changes would be made to the French vocabulary?
What if French was a Germanic language (German, English, Dutch, etc) instead of a Romance language (Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, etc)? What would world history look like?
What changes would be made to the French vocabulary?
I think it's plausible. Apparently in the Dark Ages old Frankish was the dominant language in all of what is today Belgium, including Wallonia, down through Valois and the region around Paris. With a slight shift in power, you could get all of northern France speaking what would eventually be a "Dutch" dialect, which would of course be called "French" IITL.
However, I think it's ASB to assume that any major language shift would happen in the south of France - it had a far longer history of speaking Latin, and the influence of the classic Franks was pretty thin on the ground in the south. The historical ramifications are quite interesting - would France stay one nation with two nationalities, or would France eventually lose its southern territories?
I'd be inclined to think that France would divide into Germanic and Latin ranks; in this case, we probably never see a strongly unified France! Much of northern France might even join the HRE; the Duchy of Brittany stays strongly independent, and perhaps even decides its a kingdom at some point. In the south, we have a few small states: Provence, Toulouse, Aquitaine, maybe a couple others.
Depending on what happens with England in this game (we may very well still have Normans conquering), we might have an stronger English hold on the Continent. Also, without French help, Scotland might get annexed somewhat earlier.
This English would turn out rather similar to Frisian, I'd say.I'm let down in myself for not thinking about the ramifications for England! With the Normans not speaking a Latin language, English will be totally unrecognizable. If Old English and Norman Frankish haven't diverged much (say, only around as different as Spanish and Italian are today), the Normans might just convert over to speaking Old English. Conversely, Old English may be increasingly "standardized" into the Frankish norm. By the 20th century, they may even be seen as essentially the same language, particularly if a nation arises which unites both sides of the Channel and works, much like OTL powers, to make all the various "dialects" of its realm standardized.
We've had this debate before. My thoughts (succinct): while language might not be very important in this period, the changes required to achieve this end - Frankish not being assimilated into the extant Latin and Gaulish languages - would noticeably alter French history from ~500 onward.Ermm...it would be pretty much the same, assuming that the question is about the impact of linguistics and not the POD. I can't think of any incident in French history where the derivation of their language has determined a course of action.
Also, without French help, Scotland might get annexed somewhat earlier.
I can't think of any incident in French history where the derivation of their language has determined a course of action.
Ignoring your bad choice of words, it doesn't need to, really. Luxembourg, for instance, is ethnically Celtic-ish, but cultural-linguistically Germanic. The Normans were descendants from Germanic invaders, but were alsovery French.It would require quite a massive spread of teutonic invaders all the way to the pyrenees, along with the extermination of the Latin population.![]()
It would require quite a massive spread of teutonic invaders all the way to the pyrenees, along with the extermination of the Latin population.![]()
Scotland was never annexed except briefly by Cromwell that bastard blood blood kill argh