Introduction
Romance language belonging to the Italic subfamily which, in turn, belongs to the Indo-European family. It is the language of the French people. It is also the official language of Belgium, Switzerland and countries and regions that are, or were, French colonies:French Guiana, North West Africa, Indochina, Haiti, Madagascar and part of Canada.
Origins
The first inhabitants of France were the Gauls, a Celtic people. With the conquest of the territory by Julius Caesar, in the 1st century BC, the Gallic tribes abandoned the Celtic language and adopted the language of the Roman legions, 'popular Latin'. In the 7th century, Latin had undergone numerous changes due to the invasion of barbarian peoples of Germanic origin and the adoption of Greek words.
Evolution
During the High Middle Ages, two different languages began to evolve:the langue d'oïl, north of the Loire River, and the langue d'oc, to the south. From each of them originated several dialects. The main ones of the last mentioned language are Provencal, Gascon, Languedocian, Auvernese, Lemosino and Bearnese. This language, used by an important school of poets and troubadours, was also called Provençal. The dialects of the langue d'oïl are named after the northern provinces in which they were spoken:Frankish, Île-de-France, Paris region, Norman, Picardy (Picardy), Pictavin (Poitou) and Burgundian. Modern French is the form derived directly from the Île-de-France dialect.
French as an international language
In the early 17th century, François de Malherbe triumphed in defining an exact norm for using French words in his poetic and critical works. A decisive step towards reform was the compilation of the 'Dictionary' sponsored by Cardinal Richelieu in the 17th century, at the founding of the Académie Française (1635). During the reign of Louis XIV, the language reached the culmination of its history, becoming the international language of Europe, especially in the diplomatic and scientific sphere.
The changes that occurred later were limited to modifying the pronunciation, simplifying the writing and introducing neologisms.
If we travel to Iraq and head towards the Zagros Mountains , on the border with Iran, about 40 km from Baghdad, and very close to the Diyalah River, we will find an archaeological site. It is the ancient Sumerian city of Eshnunna . At first glance, the site doesnt look like much. The old Sumerian ru