The nature of French in the Middle Ages
How useful is it to think of French as ‘a language’ in the Middle Ages? Or are we dealing rather with a set of mutually intelligible koines, of which ‘standard’ French from France was but one? Who used this language or these idioms now known as French? Were there norms and if so how did they arise? If not, how might this be accounted for in our understanding of medieval texts written in French?
Lead: Simone Ventura
Miniature of Jason and the Argonauts, from London, British Library, Add. 15268, f. 105v. Reproduced with the permission of the British Library Board.