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 mis ...

'' spoken in Anjou, a historic province in western

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. It was also spoken in neighboring regions like the Pays Nantais (along with Gallo),

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces 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 (south of

ligne Joret The Joret line (; Norman: ''lène Joret:'' Picard: ''line Joret'') is an isogloss that divides the langues d'oïl. Dialects north and west of it preserve Latin and before ; dialects south and east of it palatalize them. In Old French the resu ...

) 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 (also known as a lexicon) is a set of words, typically the set in a language or the set known to an individual. The word ''vocabulary'' originated from the Latin , meaning "a word, name". It forms an essential component of languag ...

phonemes A phoneme () is any set of similar speech sounds that are perceptually regarded by the speakers of a language as a single basic sound—a smallest possible phonetic unit—that helps distinguish one word from another. All languages con ...

and daily expressions. It is also similar to the Gallo language (although Gallo has a stronger Celtic linguistic substrate that comes from

Breton Breton most often refers to: *anything associated with Brittany, and generally **Breton people **Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany ** Breton (horse), a breed **Gale ...

and not only from ancient

Gaulish Gaulish is an extinct Celtic languages, 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, ...

language). Angevin influenced the origin and development of Gallo in the

Marches of Neustria The Marches of 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 Monarchy of France (or the Crown), known as war ...

(especially in the

Breton March The Marches of 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 Monarchy of France (or the Crown), known as w ...

) beginning in the 9th and 10th centuries. Angevin was the old speech of the Angevins or

House of Plantagenet The House of Plantagenet (Help:IPA/English, /plænˈtædʒənət/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''plan-TAJ-ə-nət'') was a royal house which originated from the Medieval France, French county of Anjou. The name Plantagenet is used by mo ...

. 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 France was ruled by monarchs from the establishment of the kingdom of West Francia in 843 until the end of the Second French Empire in 1870, with several interruptions. Classical French historiography usually regards Clovis I, king of the Fra ...

(from the

House of Capet The House of Capet () ruled the Kingdom of France from 987 to 1328. It was the most senior line of the Capetian dynasty – itself a derivative dynasty from the Robertians and the Karlings. The direct line of the House of Capet came to an ...

) at the beginning of the 13th century, where the literary language was Parisian-based

Francien Francien may refer to: * Francien language * Francien, feminine given name, Dutch version of the name Francine, borne by: ** Francien de Zeeuw Sub-lieutenant, Luitenant ter zee der 2de klasse Francien de Zeeuw (Terneuzen, 19 May 1922 – Midde ...

. Some words of Angevin origin were borrowed to English via Anglo-Norman at the Angevins domination of

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. 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; 20 May 1799 – 18 August 1850) was a French novelist and playwright. The novel sequence ''La Comédie humaine'', which presents a panorama of post-Napoleonic French life, is ...

used some Angevin words and speech in his novel Eugénie Grandet.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 Oïl languages