Appendix:Middle French spellings

Middle French is the form of the Modern French language spoken from approximately 1400 to 1600 AD. It was largely influenced by a few well-known writers, as most people in Francophone countries could not read or write. Notably Villon, Marot, Rabelais, Montaigne and Ronsard.

Differences from Old French
Here are some of the ways that Middle French spelling was distinct from Old French spelling:


 * The loss of the case system: for some irregular nouns, the nominative and oblique forms split into two words (cf., )
 * Etymological reconstruction from Latin and Ancient Greek: Old French become, which has returned to  in Modern French (Latin: ). Another example is  (Latin , Modern French ).
 * Adding extra letters to Old French words: the new spelling was a hypercorrection inconsistent with either Latin or Ancient Greek. For example, became  (Modern French: ), but the Latin verb is . Another case is mistaken etymology.  becomes, but  is from not Ancient Greek but Arabic.
 * Replacement of the letter with the letter, even in conjugations: Old French ,  and  became ,  and
 * The letter is often used to form plurals instead of . The plural of  is usually, but  is also used. The  cannot be used to form the plural of a word ending in a mute , as that would add an extra syllable.

Standardization
Middle French spelling is more standardized than that of Old French, mainly because of the invention and the increasing use of the printing press. However, there is still some variation in spelling.