Roman World and the Dutch language: languages in contact

Abstract

The article focuses on the diachronic contacts of Romance languages, primarily French, with the Dutch language. Both north-eastern regions of France and Wallonia in Belgium border on the linguistic areal of Dutch. Dynamic contacts started in the early Middle Ages, which brought a number of loanwords into French. These, penetrating mainly through spoken language, were subject to major phonetic and morphological transformations. Two languages coexisting in the same state, the Duchy of Burgundy in the 14th and 15th centuries, are of special interest. The article also deals with French linguonyms and ethnicons applied in historical context to Dutch and the native speakers of Dutch.