Roman conquest
Caesar’s campaigns brought much of Gaul under Roman control.
← Languages overview · The Glossary
Illustrated History of French
How did the Latin spoken in ancient Gaul become French? Follow the major turning points, then explore the detailed timeline and linked definitions. Dates marking language stages are approximate, because languages change gradually.
French in five milestones
The big picture first. Explore the detailed timeline below for dates, people and definitions.
500 BC
AD 1
AD 500
AD 1000
AD 1500
AD 2000
AD 500–800
Spoken Latin in Gaul developed into Gallo-Romance, with Frankish influence.
AD 842–1200
The Oaths of Strasbourg and early literature record Romance speech becoming Old French.
AD 1539–1635
The Villers-Cotterêts Ordinance and Académie française strengthened official and literary French.
AD 1800–today
Education, migration and colonial history helped spread French worldwide.
Language periods
Gallo-RomanceAD 500–AD 900
Old FrenchAD 900–AD 1300
Middle FrenchAD 1300–AD 1600
Modern FrenchAD 1600–present
Period boundaries are approximate. Drag horizontally or use the arrow keys to explore.
500 BC to the present
Drag horizontally or use the arrow keys. Select underlined terms to jump to their definitions.
Latin in Roman Gaul
Everyday spoken Latin spread while Gaulish gradually declined.
Post-Roman Gaul
Gallo-Romance developed as Frankish rulers gained influence.
Oaths of Strasbourg
A Romance-language oath provides an early written witness.
Sequence of Saint Eulalia
One of the earliest surviving Romance literary texts.
Chanson de Roland
A landmark of Old French epic poetry.
Northern and southern traditions
Langue d’oïl and langue d’oc reflected different Romance varieties.
Middle French
Grammar, vocabulary and spelling continued to change.
Villers-Cotterêts Ordinance
Académie française
Richelieu’s patronage supported an institution for French usage.
French Revolution
National language policy increasingly promoted French.
Worldwide French
French continued spreading through colonial history and international exchange.
French today
The Francophonie includes diverse French-speaking communities.
Definitions: every name and term explained
Select an underlined term in either timeline to jump to its explanation. Linked terms in the definitions connect related ideas.
Gaul
The region of western Europe inhabited by Gaulish-speaking peoples before and during Roman conquest.
Why it matters: Much of present-day France was part of Roman Gaul.
↑ Back to timelineGaulish
A Celtic language spoken in ancient Gaul before and during Roman rule.
Why it matters: It was gradually displaced by Latin but left traces in French vocabulary and place names.
↑ Back to timelineJulius Caesar
Roman general whose campaigns conquered much of Gaul between 58 and 50 BC.
Why it matters: Roman conquest helped establish Latin in Gaul.
↑ Back to timelineRoman Gaul
The territories of Gaul governed within the Roman Empire.
Why it matters: Latin spread through administration, towns, trade and daily life.
↑ Back to timelineLatin
An Italic language that spread across the Roman Empire.
Why it matters: French ultimately developed from spoken varieties of Latin.
↑ Back to timelineVulgar Latin
The varied everyday spoken forms of Latin used across the Roman world.
Why it matters: Regional spoken Latin in Gaul gradually evolved toward French.
↑ Back to timelineGallo-Romance
The Romance speech varieties that developed from Latin in Roman and post-Roman Gaul.
Why it matters: Old French emerged from this linguistic continuum.
↑ Back to timelineFrankish
A West Germanic language spoken by the Franks.
Why it matters: Frankish influenced French vocabulary and pronunciation but did not replace its Latin foundation.
↑ Back to timelineFranks
A Germanic people who established kingdoms in post-Roman Gaul.
Why it matters: Their political influence helped shape the region and its name.
↑ Back to timelineRomance languages
Languages descended from spoken Latin, including French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Romanian.
Why it matters: French is a Romance language despite Germanic and Celtic influences.
↑ Back to timelineOld French
The group of northern Gallo-Romance varieties conventionally associated with roughly the ninth through fourteenth centuries.
Why it matters: Old French literature and legal records show an emerging written language distinct from Latin.
↑ Back to timelineOaths of Strasbourg
Oaths sworn in AD 842 and recorded in an early Romance vernacular and Old High German.
Why it matters: The Romance text is an important early witness to speech ancestral to French, though not fully standardized French.
↑ Back to timelineSequence of Saint Eulalia
A short late ninth-century poem in a Romance vernacular.
Why it matters: It is among the earliest surviving literary texts in a form ancestral to French.
↑ Back to timelineChanson de Roland
The Song of Roland, an Old French epic poem preserved in medieval manuscripts.
Why it matters: It is a major monument of early French literature.
↑ Back to timelineLangue d’oïl
The historical group of northern French Romance varieties, including the variety that developed into standard French.
Why it matters: It contrasts with the southern langue d’oc traditions.
↑ Back to timelineLangue d’oc
The southern Gallo-Romance varieties, often grouped under Occitan.
Why it matters: Medieval France contained multiple Romance traditions rather than a single uniform language.
↑ Back to timelineOccitan
A Romance language traditionally spoken across much of southern France and neighboring areas.
Why it matters: Its history illustrates France’s enduring linguistic diversity.
↑ Back to timelineMiddle French
A conventional label for stages of French roughly between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries.
Why it matters: Grammar, spelling and usage changed substantially before modern standardization.
↑ Back to timelineVillers-Cotterêts Ordinance
A royal ordinance issued by Francis I in 1539 requiring French in specified judicial and administrative records.
Why it matters: It strengthened the role of French in official documentation, without instantly making everyone speak it.
↑ Back to timelineFrancis I
King of France from 1515 to 1547.
Why it matters: His government issued the Villers-Cotterêts Ordinance.
↑ Back to timelineRenaissance
A period of European cultural and intellectual change especially influential in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
Why it matters: French writers expanded literary styles and vocabulary during this era.
↑ Back to timelineAcadémie française
An institution formally established in 1635 under Cardinal Richelieu to cultivate and regulate the French language.
Why it matters: It became a prominent authority on usage and dictionaries.
↑ Back to timelineCardinal Richelieu
A leading minister of Louis XIII who supported the creation of the Académie française.
Why it matters: His patronage connected language policy to the French state.
↑ Back to timelineModern French
The later historical stages of French, conventionally from around the seventeenth century onward.
Why it matters: Modern French has continued evolving and is spoken worldwide.
↑ Back to timelineFrench Revolution
The political upheaval beginning in 1789 that transformed French government and society.
Why it matters: Revolutionary authorities promoted French as a common national language.
↑ Back to timelineFrench colonial expansion
The expansion of French political control and settlement overseas across several centuries.
Why it matters: It helped spread French to the Americas, Africa, the Caribbean and parts of Asia, often through coercive colonial institutions.
↑ Back to timelineFrancophonie
The worldwide community of French speakers and institutions using French.
Why it matters: French today is a global language with diverse regional varieties.
↑ Back to timelineBC
Before Christ, a traditional calendar label for years before AD 1.
Why it matters: There is no year zero in this numbering system.
↑ Back to timelineAD
Anno Domini, the traditional label for years after the calendar’s starting point.
Why it matters: AD 842 is the year of the Oaths of Strasbourg.
↑ Back to timeline