Hana Dancingerová

French Loans in English - Food, Meals and Cooking Hana Dancingerová

Among all foreign languages that had an impact on English throughout its linguistic history the French influence was one of the most important. There are many semantic fields of English language into which French words penetrate. Among governmental and administrative words, ecclesiastical words, vocabulary of law, military, art, fashion and social life the field of cuisine seemed to be the most enticing to explore. This work therefore focuses on French loans to English in the semantic fields of food, meals and cooking. The theoretical part summarizes historical data relevant to the language contact between English and foreign languages, especially contact between English and French and its significance to French loanwords in English. The aim of the practical part was to explore the extent to which the English lexis is influenced by French in the semantic fields mentioned above. The collected loans are described by word class, chronological origin and the possible methods of transfer. The book should be helpful to anyone interested in French-English language contact, loanwords and semantic field of cuisine.