A history of the English Language

135.
Loss of Native Words.
Language often seems lavish, if not wasteful, in having many words that appear to 
duplicate each other. And yet it has been said that there are no exact synonyms in 
English. There are usually certain peculiarities of meaning or use that distinguish a word 
from others with which it has much in common. This seems to indicate that a certain 
sense of economy characterizes people in their use of language and causes them to get rid 
of a word when its function is fully performed by some other word. After the Norman 
Conquest, duplications frequently resulted, for many of the French words that came into 
use bore meanings already expressed by a native word. In such cases one of two things 
happened: of the two words one was eventually lost, or, where both survived, they were 
differentiated in meaning. In some cases the French word disappeared, but in a great 
many cases it was the Old English word that died out. The substitution was not always 
immediate; often both words continued in use for a longer or shorter time, and the
24 
Behrens, 
Beiträge zur Geschichte der französischen Sprache in England
(Heilbronn, Germany, 
1886), p. 9. 
A history of the english language 166

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English word occasionally survives in the dialects today. Thus the OE 
ē
am,
which has 
been replaced in the standard speech by the French word 
uncle,
is still in use 
(eme)
in 
Scotland. The OE 
anda
contested its position with the French 
envy
until the time of 
Chaucer, but eventually lost out and with it went the adjective 
andig
(envious) and the 
verb 
andian
(to envy). In this way many common Old English words succumbed. The OE 
æþele
yielded to F. 
noble,
and 
æþeling
became 
nobleman
.
 Dryhten
and 
fr
ē
a
were 
displaced by the French 
prince,
although the English word 
lord,
which survived as a 
synonym, helped in the elimination. At the same time 
leod
was being ousted by 
people
. 
The OE 
d
ē
ma
(judge), 
d
ē
man
(to judge), and 
d
ō
m
(judgment) gave way before French 
influence in matters of law, but we still use 
deem
in the sense of to think or hold an 
opinion, and 
d
ō
m
has survived in special senses, as in 
the day of doom, or to meet
one’s 
doom
. OE 
(witness),
firen 
(crime), and 
scyldig
(guilty) have likewise 
disappeared, as have 
here
(army), 
cempa
(warrior), and 
sibb
(peace). OE 
lived 
on beside 
flower
from French until the thirteenth century, and 
bl
ē
o
(color) survives 
dialectally as 
blee
. Other common words that were lost may be illustrated by 
ā
dl
(disease), 
ieldu
(age), 
lof
(praise), 
lyft
(air), 
hold
(gracious), 
earm
(poor), 
sl
ī
þe
(cruel), 
gecynde
(natural), although it survived as 
kind
with this meaning until the sixteenth 
century, 
wuldor
(glory) with its adjective 
wuldrig
(glorious), and 
wlite
(beauty), 
wlitig
(beautiful). In all these cases the place of the English word was taken by the word in 
parentheses, introduced from French. Many common verbs died out in the same way, 
such as 
andettan
(confess), 
beorgan
(preserve, defend), 
bieldan
and 
elnian
(encourage), 
dihtan 
(composo),
 fl
ī
tan
(contend; flite [dialect]), 
g
ō
dian
(improve), 
healsian
(implore), 
herian
(praise), 
l
ē
anian
(reward), 
bel
ī
fan
(remain), 
miltsian
(pity). Here likewise the 
words in parentheses are the French verbs that replaced the native word. Not all the Old 
English words that have disappeared were driven out by French equivalents. Some gave 
way to other more or less synonymous words in Old English. Many independently fell 
into disuse. Nevertheless the enormous invasion of French words not only took the place 
of many English words that had been lost but itself accounts for a great many of the 
losses from the Old English vocabulary.