# What language(s) were spoken in 14th century England? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 16, 2007, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-s-were-spoken-in-14th-century-england/396250 "2007-03-16T19:41:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![solkoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@solkoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solkoe)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-s-were-spoken-in-14th-century-england/396250/1 "2007-03-16T19:41:40Z")
and is there a site where I can listen to them? ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-s-were-spoken-in-14th-century-england/396250/2 "2007-03-16T19:48:38Z")
English (in many widely differing dialects) French (Anglo-Norman – but dying out at this stage) Latin Cornish Welsh ---
**Author:** ![essell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/34f0e0/32.png) [@essell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/essell)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-s-were-spoken-in-14th-century-england/396250/3 "2007-03-16T19:56:59Z")
How many were writen? I’d guess that english was most popular spoken, but more writing was done in Latin, due to the nature of education at the time. Am I right? Or not? ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-s-were-spoken-in-14th-century-england/396250/4 "2007-03-16T20:09:42Z")
English, French and Latin were all used extensively in written documents. Welsh was mostly used in Wales, and was written there, but some Welsh spilled over the border into England. I’m not sure how much was written in Cornish. ---
**Author:** ![sjc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@sjc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sjc)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-s-were-spoken-in-14th-century-england/396250/5 "2007-03-17T00:34:30Z")
[QUOTE=solkoe] and is there a site where I can listen to them? [/QUOTE] I would say no, probably not, at least not to what they _really_ sound like back then. (Though you might be able to find some place with approximations). ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-s-were-spoken-in-14th-century-england/396250/6 "2007-03-17T01:47:18Z")
[Listen to Chaucer spoken in Middle English pronunciations.](http://academics.vmi.edu/english/audio/Audio_Index.html) ---
**Author:** ![solkoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@solkoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solkoe)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-s-were-spoken-in-14th-century-england/396250/7 "2007-03-17T04:02:21Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] [Listen to Chaucer spoken in Middle English pronunciations.](http://academics.vmi.edu/english/audio/Audio_Index.html) [/QUOTE] That was very cool!!! Am I listening to the way people talked 700 years ago? A book I read\* The Illuminator \* claims that English was growing by this time but that most people spoke Norse French. I am confused about the origins of these languages. Isn’t English a combination of Norse (Viking) and French? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-s-were-spoken-in-14th-century-england/396250/8 "2007-03-17T04:11:19Z")
[QUOTE=solkoe] Isn’t English a combination of Norse (Viking) and French? [/QUOTE] [Read all about it](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_english_language). ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-s-were-spoken-in-14th-century-england/396250/9 "2007-03-17T04:11:26Z")
[QUOTE=solkoe] Isn’t English a combination of Norse (Viking) and French? [/QUOTE] The experts have yet to chime in, but I’ll mention that Engish is originally a Germanic language (Frisian, to be exact), and it has had no problem in filing off the serial numbers of any word it liked from any language. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-s-were-spoken-in-14th-century-england/396250/10 "2007-03-17T07:09:23Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] [Listen to Chaucer spoken in Middle English pronunciations.](http://academics.vmi.edu/english/audio/Audio_Index.html) [/QUOTE] [Listen to Chaucer spoken in a slightly more modern idiom](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4775661). ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-s-were-spoken-in-14th-century-england/396250/11 "2007-03-17T13:46:58Z")
[QUOTE=Frank] The experts have yet to chime in, but I’ll mention that Engish is originally a Germanic language (Frisian, to be exact), and it has had no problem in filing off the serial numbers of any word it liked from any language. [/QUOTE] I always thought of the english as mugging unwary languages in dark alleys, and rifling its pockets for loose words. 😉 Si ---
**Author:** ![essell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/34f0e0/32.png) [@essell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/essell)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-s-were-spoken-in-14th-century-england/396250/12 "2007-03-17T13:58:59Z")
[QUOTE=si\_blakely] I always thought of the english as mugging unwary languages in dark alleys, and rifling its pockets for loose words. 😉 Si [/QUOTE] What do you think the expansion of the British empire was all about? The economic and political effects were minor compared the need for new words! ---
**Author:** ![Ea\_calendula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@Ea\_calendula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ea_calendula)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-s-were-spoken-in-14th-century-england/396250/13 "2007-03-17T17:57:06Z")
It was certainly interesting to listen to. Not least because I’m Danish, and it sounded quite a lot what I could have sounded like, if someone had given me the text and told me to read it without trying to emulate an English accent. I know English has, in part, Germanic roots, so it’s not wholly surprising, but it’s very interesting nonetheless. [QUOTE=solkoe] That was very cool!!! Am I listening to the way people talked 700 years ago? A book I read\* The Illuminator \* claims that English was growing by this time but that most people spoke Norse French. I am confused about the origins of these languages. Isn’t English a combination of Norse (Viking) and French? [/QUOTE]