It is the Norman-French that most especially bears upon the history of the English language. The proportion of the original Celtic in the present languages of France has still to be determined. It may, however, be safely asserted, that at a certain epoch between the first and fifth centuries, the language of Gaul was more Roman and less Celtic than that of Britain. SPECIMEN. _From the Anglo-Norman Poem of Charlemagne._ Un jur fu Karl['e]un al Seint-Denis muster, Reout prise sa corune, en croiz seignat sun chef, E ad ceinte sa esp['e]e: li pons fud d'or mer. Dux i out e demeines e baruns e chevalers. Li emper[`e]res reguardet la reine sa muillers. Ele fut ben corun['e]e al plus bel e as meuz. Il la prist par le poin desuz un oliver, De sa pleine parole la prist [`a] reisuner: "Dame, v['e]istes unkes humc nul de desuz ceil Tant ben s['e]ist esp['e]e ne la corone el chef? Uncore cunquerrei-jo citez ot mun espeez." Cele ne fud pas sage, folement respondeit: {92} "Emperere," dist-ele, trop vus poez preiser. "Uncore en sa-jo on ki plus se fait l['e]ger, Quant il porte corune entre ses chevalers; Kaunt il met sur sa teste, plus belement lui set." In the northern French we must recognise not only a Celtic and a Classical, but also a Gothic element: since Clovis and Charlemagne were no Frenchmen, but Germans; their language being _High_-Germanic. The High-Germanic element in French has still to be determined. In the northern French of _Normandy_ there is a second Gothic element, _viz._, a Scandinavian element. By this the proper northern French underwent a further modification. Until the time of the Scandinavians or Northmen, the present province of Normandy was called Neustria. A generation before the Norman Conquest, a Norwegian captain, named in his own country _Rolf_, and in France _Rollo_, or _Rou_, settled upon the coast of Normandy. What Hengist and the Germans are supposed to have been in Britain, Rollo and his Scandinavians were in France. The province took from them its name of Normandy. The _Norwegian_ element in the Norman-French has yet to be determined. Respecting it, however, the following statements may, even in the present state of the question, be made:-- 1. That a Norse dialect was spoken in Normandy at Bayeux, some time after the battle of Hastings. 2. That William the Conqueror understood the Norse language. 3. That the names Jersey, Guernsey, and Alderney are as truly Norse names as Orkney and Shetland. * * * * * {93} CHAPTER VIII. THE POSITION OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AS INDO-EUROPEAN. s. 145. In each of the three preceding chapters a separate stock of languages has been considered; and it has been shown, in some degree, how far languages of the same stock differ from, or agree with, each other. Furthermore, in each stock there has been some particular language that especially illustrates the English.