OUR NORMAN WORDS

Taranaki Daily News, 13 December 1932, Page 5

OUR NORMAN WORDS

BACKBONE OF LANGUAGE. Descended to us from the Normans came all the' words (save king) of dignity, state,, honour, and. pre-eminence, sovereign, sceptre, throne, realm, royalty, homage, prince, duke," court, chancellor, treasurer, palace, castle, hall, dome, and’many more. The great features of Nature —the sun, the moon, the stars, the earth, the water, the fire; all the ' prime social relations — father,' mother, husband, wife, son, daughter—these are Saxon. The palace and the' castle may have come to us from the Norman, but to the Saxon we owe . far. dearer names—the home, the hearth, the house, the roof. The instruments used in cultivating the earth—the flail, plough, sickle, spade—are expressed in Norman language; so, too, are the main products -of the earth, as wheat, rye,, oats, here .(barley), and so are the names ; of./dpmestic animals. The names of almost all domestic; animals, so long as they are: alive, are Saxon, but when dressed and prepared for food they become Norman.. The Saxon hind had the charge and labour of tending and'feeding them, but only that they might lie on the table-of his Norman lord. Ox, steer, cow, are : Saxon, beef N° rman > calf is Saxon, veal Norman; sheep is WM