Middle French

E87998

Middle French is the historical stage of the French language used roughly between the 14th and 17th centuries, marking the transition from Old French to Modern French.

Jump to: Surface forms Statements Referenced by

Observed surface forms (1)

Surface form Occurrences
Classical French 1

Statements (49)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Romance language variety
historical language stage
stage of the French language
approximateEndDate 17th century
approximateStartDate 14th century
codificationDate 1539
codifiedBy Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts
developedFrom Old French
developedInto Middle French self-linksurface differs
surface form: Classical French

Early Modern French
follows Old French
hasCharacteristic development of modern French pronoun system
emergence of more fixed word order
expansion of vocabulary through Latin and Greek borrowings
gradual reduction of case system
increasing standardization of spelling
loss of many Old French inflectional endings
transition from synthetic to more analytic grammar
influenced Modern French orthography
Modern French syntax
Modern French vocabulary
influencedBy Italian
Latin
regional Oïl dialects
isoStatus has no separate ISO 639-3 code from French
languageFamily Romance languages
legalStatus language of royal ordinances in France
partOf history of the French language
precedes French
surface form: Modern French
region Western Europe
spokenIn Burgundy
French-speaking regions of Europe
Kingdom of France
standardizationCenter Paris
subfamily Gallo-Romance languages
Oïl languages
usedBy Clément Marot
François Rabelais
Joachim du Bellay
Pierre de Ronsard
usedFor administration
law
literature
royal chancery documents
usedInPeriod 14th century
15th century
16th century
early 17th century
writingSystem Latin alphabet

Referenced by (11)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

French ancestor Middle French
Middle French developedInto Middle French self-linksurface differs
this entity surface form: Classical French
Chronicles of Jean Froissart language Middle French
Duchy of Burgundy language Middle French
House of Valois language Middle French
Mirour de l’Omme language Middle French
Kings of France languageOfCourt Middle French
Merlin languageOfWorkOrName Middle French
Joan of Arc languageSpoken Middle French
Bishopric of Cambrai languageUsed Middle French
Burgundian Netherlands languageUsed Middle French