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Gaulish Language

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Known as the language of love, many people view the French language as an intriguing language. Unfortunately, not everyone knows the complex history of the French language. If examining the geographic area in which French has come to be then it is easy to see there are a great many factors that have influenced its formation over time. Many of these include the cultural influences of whichever group held political control over the land or the changing social attitudes of those people. The earliest known history of those living in the area of France, then known as Gaul, were populations of Celts who imposed their authority on the indigenous populations in the area. They spoke a variety of Celtic languages, which unfortunately none of which have survived to this day. The Gaulish language varied in many ways because it was not written down, and it varied depending on the region you were in due to the lack of unity among the Gauls. Interestingly enough, they used Greek for their writing. During the Roman occupation of Gaul and other areas Latin became the language essential to everyday life. Although the spread of Latin was slower in more rural areas, the spread of Roman civilization meant the spread of Latin to the farthest reaches of its empire. …show more content…

Latin was replaced with Romanic, one form of which would later become French. French is a Romance language, meaning it is derived from Latin but will slowly become separate enough to be its own language while having many common elements of the various Romance languages. Under Clovis, the king of the franks, Frankish would leave a lasting mark on the evolving French language, contributing around 500 words. Many still spoke local common Romanic in the area though. The Germanization of the Romanic language left it much closer to French than Latin compared to the other Romanic

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