The first decree to consider French as the state language throughout France was written by King Francis I in 1539. But that decree was not a direct guide to action, but just a good wish. The French language was yet to be created by future generations.
What did the people who inhabited the territory of present-day France speak at the time of Francis I and his first successors? Each region had its own distinct language. Those languages can be conventionally divided into two large categories: northern or oil languages and southern or ok languages. (The words oil and ok mean yes). Since the Capetian dynasty, northern languages have slightly prevailed.
The language of interethnic communication in France at that time was Latin. Latin was used in the church by clergy. It taught at universities. He provided a connection between popular languages. In the latter capacity, Latin served until the end of the 17th century, and was used in churches and universities much later than this period.
Work on the invention of a single French language began in the first half of the 17th century. In 1635, the French Academy was founded (not to be confused with the Paris Academy of Sciences). As the official website of the academy academie-francaise.fr reports, from the first days of its existence, it was entrusted with the mission, I quote: "to create the French language, give it rules, make it clean and understandable for everyone."
The goals and objectives were outlined personally by King Louis XIII at a meeting with scientists who entered the academy. Cardinal Richelieu was proclaimed the patron saint of the academy, and after his death - Chancellor Seguier. Then the patrons were Louis XIV and all subsequent kings, emperors, heads of the French state.
Soon a group of comrades - Mahlerbe, Cornelle, Pascal, Racine, Moliere and others - got down to business. Parisian il was taken as a basis. All the most ancient and most popular words at that time were removed from circulation. The work went on long and hard. Finally, nearly 60 years after the start in 1694, a dictionary of fresh, freshly baked French was presented to the king for signature. Subsequently, new versions of the dictionary were published in 1718, 1740, 1762, 1798, 1835, 1878, 1932-1935. Work on the ninth edition has been going on since 1992 to this day.
The French language was introduced in France by administrative measures, first under the influence of the Parisian royal family. After the Great French Revolution, a strong oppression of the popular languages began. Their study was prohibited by law. Common French was seen as a key factor in the formation of a unified French nation.
The ban, and even then formally, was lifted only in 1982, when it was allowed to teach indigenous languages in schools as electives. Today, only less than 2 percent of the French are more or less familiar with their native languages. The French - Jeanne of kinship, who do not remember, contemptuously call them "patois" (jargon), not even realizing that masterpieces of medieval literature were created in some of those languages, for example Oxican. Most of the works were, of course, destroyed, but some remained.
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Nowadays, the French are guarding their surrogate remake. They know that without protection, the French are not a tenant. Now, in order to introduce a new word into use, either a special parliamentary law or a government order is required …