Angevin is the traditional ''
langue d'oïl
Langue is a municipality in the Valle Department, Honduras.
The town is located near the border of El Salvador and is a regional Hammock making center. Most of the town is made up of sharecroppers and day laborers. There are usually Mormon miss ...
'' spoken in
Anjou Anjou may refer to:
Geography and titles France
* County of Anjou, a historical county in France and predecessor of the Duchy of Anjou
**Count of Anjou, title of nobility
*Duchy of Anjou, a historical duchy and later a province of France
**Duk ...
, a historic province in western
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
. It was also spoken in neighboring regions like the
Pays Nantais (along with
Gallo
Gallo may refer to:
*Related to Gaul:
** Gallo-Roman culture
**Gallo language, a regional language of France
**Gallo-Romance, a branch of Romance languages
**Gallo-Italic or Gallo-Italian language, a branch spoken in Northern Italy of the Romance ...
),
Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...
(along with
Mayennois) and
Touraine
Touraine (; ) is one of the traditional provinces of France. Its capital was Tours. During the political reorganization of French territory in 1790, Touraine was divided between the departments of Indre-et-Loire, :Loir-et-Cher, Indre and Vien ...
(along with
Tourangeau).
It is closely related to other ''oïl'' dialects spoken in western France, especially Sarthois, Mayennois and
Norman
Norman or Normans may refer to:
Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries
** People or things connected with the Norm ...
(south of
ligne Joret) in what could be called Eastern Armorican (Angevin-Mayennois-Sarthois-South Norman). Eastern Armorican, together with Gallo, forms the "zone armoricaine" of Langues d'oïl.
As an ''oïl'' language or dialect it shares many common features with
French in
vocabulary
A vocabulary is a set of familiar words within a person's language. A vocabulary, usually developed with age, serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge. Acquiring an extensive vocabulary is one of the la ...
,
phonemes
In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme () is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language.
For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-west ...
and daily expressions.
It is also similar to the Gallo language (although Gallo has a stronger Celtic linguistic substrate that comes from
Breton and not only from ancient
Gaulish
Gaulish was an ancient Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, most of Switze ...
language). Angevin influenced the origin and development of Gallo in the
Marches of Neustria
The Marches of Neustria (french: Marches de Neustrie; br, Marz Neustria; Norman: ''Maurches de Neûtrie'') were two marches created in 861 by the Carolingian king of West Francia Charles the Bald. They were ruled by officials appointed by the Mo ...
(especially in the
Breton March
The Marches of Neustria (french: Marches de Neustrie; br, Marz Neustria; Norman: ''Maurches de Neûtrie'') were two marches created in 861 by the Carolingian king of West Francia Charles the Bald. They were ruled by officials appointed by the Mo ...
) beginning in the 9th and 10th centuries.
Angevin was the old speech of the
Angevins or
House of Plantagenet. However, in spite of this prestigious dynasty, Angevin never developed a notable literature, partially because the region of Anjou was integrated into the royal domains of the
King of France (from the
House of Capet
The House of Capet (french: Maison capétienne) or the Direct Capetians (''Capétiens directs''), also called the House of France (''la maison de France''), or simply the Capets, ruled the Kingdom of France from 987 to 1328. It was the most ...
) at the beginning of the 13th century, where the literary language was
Parisian-based
Francien.
Some words of Angevin origin were borrowed to
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
via
Anglo-Norman Anglo-Norman may refer to:
*Anglo-Normans, the medieval ruling class in England following the Norman conquest of 1066
* Anglo-Norman language
**Anglo-Norman literature
* Anglo-Norman England, or Norman England, the period in English history from 10 ...
at the
Angevins domination of
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
.
Today it is almost an extinct dialect or language but it is preserved in the
Rimiaux, poems written in Angevin, and also in some daily expressions.
Literature
The
Rimiaux are some of the best expressions of Angevin literature. Several Rimiaux from Angevin poets and writers have been published.
Honoré de Balzac
Honoré de Balzac ( , more commonly , ; born Honoré Balzac;Jean-Louis Dega, La vie prodigieuse de Bernard-François Balssa, père d'Honoré de Balzac : Aux sources historiques de La Comédie humaine, Rodez, Subervie, 1998, 665 p. 20 May 179 ...
used some Angevin words and speech in his novel
Eugénie Grandet
''Eugénie Grandet'' is a novel first published in 1833 by French author Honoré de Balzac. While he was writing it he conceived his ambitious project, ''La Comédie humaine'', and almost immediately prepared a second edition, revising the names ...
.
[Honoré de Balzac, Eugénie Grandet, vol. 5, édition dite du Furne, 1843]
Bibliography
* ''Paroles d'Oïl'', DPLO, Mougon 1994,
* A.-J. Verrier et R. Onillon, ''Glossaire étymologique et historique des parlers et patois de l'Anjou'', t. I et II, 1908, consulter en ligne (tome I), consulter en ligne (tome II)
* ''Mots et expressions des Patois d'Anjou, Petit dictionnaire'', Petit Pavé, 116 p. ()
* Augustin Jeanneau et Adolphe Durand, ''Le Parler populaire en Anjou'', Choletais, 1982, 197 p.
* ''Encyclopédie Bonneteau : Anjou, Maine-et-Loire'', avril 2010, 320 p.
* Honoré de Balzac, ''Eugénie Grandet'', vol. 5, édition dite du Furne, 1843
* ''Le petit Larousse'' ()
References
External links
* http://themasq49.free.fr/index_fichiers/ecouter_le_morceau.htm
{{Authority control
French dialects