34. +Losses of English from the Incoming of Norman-French.+-- (i) Before the coming of the Normans, the English language was in the habit of forming compounds with ease and effect. But, after the introduction of the Norman-French language, that power seems gradually to have disappeared; and ready-made French or Latin words usurped the place of the home-grown English compound. Thus +despair+ pushed out +wanhope+; +suspicion+ dethroned +wantrust+; +bidding-sale+ was expelled by +auction+; +learning-knight+ by +disciple+; +rime-craft+ by the Greek word +arithmetic+; +gold-hoard+ by +treasure+; +book-hoard+ by +library+; +earth-tilth+ by +agriculture+; +wonstead+ by +residence+; and so with a large number of others. --Many English words, moreover, had their meanings depreciated and almost degraded; and the words themselves lost their ancient rank and dignity. Thus the Norman conquerors put their foot-- literally and metaphorically-- on the Saxon +chair+,[5] which thus became a +stool+, or a +footstool+. +Thatch+, which is a doublet of the word +deck+, was the name for any kind of roof; but the coming of the Norman-French lowered it to indicate a _roof of straw_. +Whine+ was used for the weeping or crying of human beings; but it is now restricted to the cry of a dog. +Hide+ was the generic term for the skin of any animal; it is now limited in modern English to the skin of a beast. --The most damaging result upon our language was that it entirely +stopped the growth of English words+. We could, for example, make out of the word +burn+-- the derivatives +brunt+, +brand+, +brandy+, +brown+, +brimstone+, and others; but this power died out with the coming in of the Norman-French language. After that, instead of growing our own words, we adopted them ready-made. --Professor Craik compares the English and Latin languages to two banks; and says that, when the Normans came over, the account at the English bank was closed, and we drew only upon the Latin bank. But the case is worse than this. English lost its power of growth and expansion from the centre; from this time, it could only add to its bulk by borrowing and conveying from without-- by the external accretion of foreign words. [Footnote 5: _Chair_ is the Norman-French form of the French _chaise_. The Germans still call a chair a _stuhl_; and among the English, _stool_ was the universal name till the twelfth century.]