suppose table tent tormentor tower travail tributary turn riches robe rose rote route tyranny usage 76. These words are still in our language; and beyond these there are many French words in Chaucer which have since been disused, or so much altered as to be of questionable identification. But the general permanence of Chaucer's French words may reasonably be esteemed a proof that he is in no sense the author of this particular combination of the two languages; that he adopted and did not invent the mixture. The proportion of French was very much more considerable than is generally admitted. Sometimes we meet with lines which are almost wholly French: Prol. 424. Was verray felicitee parfite. Prol. 340. Prol. 72. Prol. 137. § 10. The Bilingualism of King's English. 77. But we have proofs of more intimate association with the French language than this amounts to. The dualism of our elder phraseology has been already noticed. It is a very expressive feature in regard to the early relations of English with French. Words run much in couples, the one being English and the other French; and it is plain that the habit was caused by the bilingual state of the population. Thus : act and deed. aid and abet. baile and borowe. 316. captive and thrall. head and chief. head and front. |