[pbhjpbhj]

When you say a thousand years ago presumably you mean the pre-French Norman language mixed with the Old English from 1066?

I'd go back to the Roman invasion, at least, and the mixing of Latin as the official language of Roman Britain with the Brytthonic language(s) [themselves already probably mixing with other earlier Celtic tongues].

Some of the Latin in English (and Cymraeg) was adopted via the Norman/French tongue but there's pretty clear evidence -- AFAICT, I'm not a linguist -- of Latin being retained and adopted from the occupation. That presumably gave us a Creole as a starting place to add in Germanic (Saxon, Frisian, Jutlandish), Celtic (Irish, Pictish?), and Nordic languages in the first millennium AD making the mixing of Norman French just more of the same??

So I'd say, "after two thousand years of this" ...

[baud147258]

As a French, I've always enjoyed finding words in English coming from French, but I've never though about latin words coming from the roman occupation. Thank you for sharing!

[pbhjpbhj]

Words like ffenestr and ysgol from Cymraeg show the adoption of Latin that you'd recognise in French (fenetre, ecole). Suggesting these words were already around in Old English from Latin.

It can be hard to tell the history though, eg sovereign came from French (rein) but got Latinised (regnare) in spelling reform.

One interesting thing for me was finding English loanwords in Cymraeg (former Welsh language) that are no longer used in English. I'll bet there are some French loanwords in English that aren't in French any more?

There are words adopted twice too, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Fre... has lots of examples. Giving us chief and chef in English with different meanings but based on a single French word (I gather) adopted at different times.

[baud147258]

> I'll bet there are some French loanwords in English that aren't in French any more?

I don't know any and I don't think I'll be able to spot them since they aren't in French anymore.

But (from your link), there are words coming from Old French in English which then went back in French, but usually keeping the English pronunciation.