England became a bi-lingual country, and the impact on the English vocabulary made over this two- hundred- years period is immense: French words from the Norman dialect penetrated every aspect of social life.

Here is a very brief list of examples of Norman French borrowings.

Administrative words: state, government, parliament, council, power.

Legal terms: court, judge, justice, crime, prison.

Military terms: army, war, soldier, officer, battle, enemy.

Educational terms: pupil, lesson, library, science, pen, pencil.

Every day life: table, plate, saucer, dinner, supper, river, autumn, uncle, etc.

Modern English developed from Anglo- Saxon and is a Germanic language. However, all the invading peoples, particularly the Norman - French, influenced the English language and you can find many words in English which are French in origin.

Today English vocabulary is approximately half Germanic ( from the Saxons and Vikings) and half Romance ( from French and Latin). There are however considerable borrowings from other languages.