langue d’oïl

…to the Alps was the langue d’oïl (the future French), and to the south it was the langue d’oc (Occitan), terms derived from the respective expressions for “yes.”

The langue d’oïl had a tradition of dance and spinning songs before the troubadours exerted by the mid-12th century an influence encouraged by, among others, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Guilhelm IX’s granddaughter and queen of France and later England (as the wife of Henry II). The troubadours’…

The langue d’oïl (forerunner of modern French) was the dominant language from the 17th century.

…dialects made up the so-called langue d’oïl (the term is based on the French use of the word oïl, modern oui, for “yes”). Standard French has also greatly reduced the use of the Occitan language of southern France (the so-called langue d’oc, from Provençal oc for “yes”). Provençal, Occitan’s major…