The coming of the Normans to England formed the third and
last installment of the Teutonic invasion. Norman merchants and artisans
followed Norman soldiers and settled particularly in the southern and eastern
parts of the island. They seem to have emigrated in considerable numbers and
doubtless added an important element to the English population. The Normans
thus completed the work of the Anglo-Saxons and Danes in making England a
Teutonic country.
NORMAN ELEMENT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
It must be remembered, however, that the Normans in
Normandy had received a considerable intermixture of French blood and had
learned to speak a form of the French language (Norman-French). In England
Norman-French naturally was used by the upper and ruling classes—by the court,
the nobility, and the clergy. The English held fast to their own homely
language, but could not fail to pick up many French expressions, as they
mingled with their conquerors in churches, markets, and other places of public
resort. It took about three hundred years for French words and phrases to soak
thoroughly into their speech. The result was a very large addition to the
vocabulary of English.
