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==== Gaulish ==== {{further|List of French words of Gaulish origin}} Some [[Gaulish language|Gaulish]] words influenced Vulgar Latin and, through this, other Romance languages. For example, classical Latin {{lang|la|[[wikt:equus|equus]]}} was uniformly replaced in Vulgar Latin by {{lang|la|[[wikt:caballus|caballus]]}} 'nag, work horse', derived from Gaulish {{lang|xtg|caballos}} (cf. [[Welsh language|Welsh]] {{lang|cy|ceffyl}}, [[Breton language|Breton]] {{lang|br|kefel}}),<ref>{{Cite book |last=Xavier |first=Delamarre |title=Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise |date=2003 |publisher=Errance |location=Paris |trans-title=Dictionary of the Gallic language |language=fr}}</ref>{{rp|96}} yielding {{abbr|ModF|Modern French}} {{lang|fr|[[wikt:cheval|cheval]]}}, Occitan {{lang|oc|caval}} ({{lang|oc|chaval}}), Catalan {{lang|ca|[[wikt:cavall|cavall]]}}, Spanish {{lang|es|[[wikt:caballo|caballo]]}}, Portuguese {{lang|pt|[[wikt:cavalo|cavalo]]}}, Italian {{lang|it|[[wikt:cavallo|cavallo]]}}, Romanian {{lang|ro|[[wikt:cal|cal]]}}, and, by extension, English ''[[wikt:cavalry|cavalry]]'' and ''[[wikt:chivalrie#Etymology|chivalry]]'' (both via different forms of [Old] French: [[Old Norman]] and [[Francien language|Francien]]). An estimated 200 words of Gaulish etymology survive in Modern French, for example {{lang|fr|[[wikt:chêne|chêne]]}} {{gloss|oak tree}} and {{lang|fr|[[wikt:charrue|charrue]]}} {{gloss|plough}}.<ref>Delamarre (2003, pp. 389–90) lists 167</ref> Within historical phonology and studies of [[language contact]], various phonological changes have been posited as caused by a Gaulish substrate, although there is some debate. One of these is considered certain, because this fact is clearly attested in the Gaulish-language [[epigraphy]] on the pottery found at [[la Graufesenque]] ({{small|A.D.}} 1st century). There, the Greek word {{Transliteration|el|paropsid-es}} (written in Latin){{clarify|reason=Is this the Latin transliteration of a Greek word, or a Greek word?|date=July 2021}} appears as {{lang|xtg|paraxsid-i}}.<ref name="Lambert">{{Cite book |last=Lambert |first=Pierre-Yves |title=La Langue gauloise |date=1994 |publisher=Errance |isbn=978-2-87772-224-7 |location=Paris |pages=46–47 |trans-title=The Gallic language |author-link=Pierre-Yves Lambert}}</ref> The consonant clusters /ps/ and /pt/ shifted to /xs/ and /xt/, e.g. {{abbr|Lat|Latin}} {{lang|la|capsa}} > ''*kaxsa'' > ''caisse'' ({{abbr|≠|unlike}} Italian {{lang|it|cassa}}) or ''captīvus'' > ''*kaxtivus'' > {{abbr|OF|Old French}} {{lang|fro|chaitif}}<ref name=Lambert/> (mod. ''chétif''; cf. Irish ''cacht'' {{gloss|servant}}; ≠ Italian {{lang|it|cattiv-ità}}, Portuguese {{lang|pt|cativo}}, Spanish {{lang|es|cautivo}}). This phonetic evolution is common in its later stages with the shift of the Latin cluster /kt/ in Old French ({{abbr|Lat|Latin}} {{lang|la|factum}} > ''fait'', ≠ Italian {{lang|it|fatto}}, Portuguese {{lang|pt|feito}}, Spanish {{lang|es|hecho}}; or ''lactem''* > ''lait'', ≠ Italian {{lang|it|latte}}, Portuguese {{lang|pt|leite}}, Spanish {{lang|es|leche}}). This means that both /pt/ and /kt/ must have first merged into /kt/ in the history of Old French, after which this /kt/ shifted to /xt/. In parallel, /ps/ and /ks/ merged into /ks/ before shifting to /xs/, apparently under Gaulish influence. The [[Celtic languages|Celtic]] [[Gaulish language]] is thought to have survived into the 6th century in France, despite considerable cultural Romanization.<ref name="Helix">{{Cite book |last=Laurence Hélix |title=Histoire de la langue française |publisher=Ellipses Edition Marketing S.A. |year=2011 |isbn=978-2-7298-6470-5 |page=7 |quote=Le déclin du Gaulois et sa disparition ne s'expliquent pas seulement par des pratiques culturelles spécifiques: Lorsque les Romains conduits par César envahirent la Gaule, au 1er siecle avant J.-C., celle-ci romanisa de manière progressive et profonde. Pendant près de 500 ans, la fameuse période gallo-romaine, le gaulois et le latin parlé coexistèrent; au VIe siècle encore; le temoignage de Grégoire de Tours atteste la survivance de la langue gauloise.}}</ref> Coexisting with Latin, Gaulish helped shape the [[Vulgar Latin]] dialects that developed into French, with effects including loanwords and [[calque]]s (including {{lang|fr|oui}},<ref>Peter Schrijver, ''Studies in the History of Celtic Pronouns and Particles'', Maynooth, 1997, 15.</ref> the word for "yes"),<ref name=Savignac/> sound changes shaped by Gaulish influence,<ref>Henri Guiter, "Sur le substrat gaulois dans la Romania", in ''Munus amicitae. Studia linguistica in honorem Witoldi Manczak septuagenarii'', eds., Anna Bochnakowa & Stanislan Widlak, Krakow, 1995.</ref><ref>Eugeen Roegiest, ''Vers les sources des langues romanes: Un itinéraire linguistique à travers la Romania'' (Leuven, Belgium: Acco, 2006), 83.</ref> and influences in conjugation and word order.<ref name="Savignac">{{Cite book |last=Savignac, Jean-Paul |title=Dictionnaire Français-Gaulois |publisher=La Différence |year=2004 |location=Paris |page=26}}</ref><ref name="Matas">{{Cite journal |last=Matasovic, Ranko |year=2007 |title=Insular Celtic as a Language Area |journal=Papers from the Workshop within the Framework of the XIII International Congress of Celtic Studies |page=106 |series=The Celtic Languages in Contact}}</ref><ref name="Adams">{{Cite book |last=Adams, J. N. |url=https://archive.org/details/regionaldiversif600adam_341 |title=The Regional Diversification of Latin 200 BC – AD 600 |date=2007 |isbn=9780511482977 |location=Cambridge |pages=[https://archive.org/details/regionaldiversif600adam_341/page/n300 279]–289 |chapter=Chapter V – Regionalisms in provincial texts: Gaul |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511482977 |url-access=limited}}</ref> A computational study from 2003 suggests that early gender shifts may have been motivated by the gender of the corresponding word in Gaulish.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Polinsky |first1=Maria |last2=Van Everbroeck |first2=Ezra |year=2003 |title=Development of Gender Classifications: Modeling the Historical Change from Latin to French |journal=Language |volume=79 |pages=356–390 |citeseerx=10.1.1.134.9933 |doi=10.1353/lan.2003.0131 |jstor=4489422 |s2cid=6797972 |number=2}}</ref>
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