French

The French language (in its native language: Français, pronounced "Fransé") is a Latin-Romance language that serves as a mother tongue for about 80 million people, alongside approximately 140 million additional people who speak the language, with a total of about 220 million people using it.

The French language serves as an official language in various communities and organizations such as the European Union, the International Olympic Committee, the UN, and the World Postal Union. In the past, it was considered an international language, and knowledge of it granted belonging to the upper class. Because of this, it was one of the languages studied as a second language in many countries around the world. However, starting from the second half of the 20th century, its place has gradually been displaced by the English language.

History

The language began to develop from the Romance language, through dialect variations and abstractions of Latin.

The first written documentation of the French language is from the year 842 (4602), and in 1539 (5299) it was declared the official language of law and administration by King François I.

During the following years, the French language continued to spread and replaced Latin in academic institutions and in scientific and philosophical circles.

With the spread of the French Empire beginning in the 17th century, the French language spread to additional parts of the world outside Europe, mainly in Africa and Asia.

Starting from 1880 (5640) onwards, following the compulsory education law enacted in France, French spread throughout France also as a practical spoken language in everyday life.

Until World War I, over 50% of France's residents did not speak French but rather other languages that form part of the country's linguistic landscape: Romance languages such as Occitan or Provençal in its various versions, Bearnese, Auvergnat, Gascon, etc., and non-Romance languages such as Breton, Flemish, Alsatian German, Basque, Italian, Corsican, etc. This led to the fact that in the year that the war broke out, 1914 (5674), half of the soldiers still did not fully understand the officers' commands. The army served largely as a linguistic melting pot among the male population. Later, the education system and media - radio and television - also contributed to its spread among the people.

Besides the spread of the language in France itself, the language spread to countries where French residents emigrated, such as Belgium, Switzerland, the province of Quebec in Canada, and various states in the United States such as Louisiana, Maine, and New Hampshire.

French greatly influenced the English language, and a large number of verbs, nouns, adjectives, and roots in the English language originated from Old French, or from Latin, which entered the English vocabulary through the "mediation" of French.

In Chabad Chassidus

About the French language, the Alter Rebbe said that he didn't even want to look at the letters of the language.

The Rebbe testifies that several of our Rebbeim spoke the French language, and on one occasion when the Rebbe Rashab visited France with the Rebbe Rayatz, he spoke continuously for four hours in the French language, and connected this to the fact that our Rebbeim dressed in the garments of what was being refined in France in order to purify and refine it and elevate it to holiness.

During the period of the Rebbe Rayatz, when Reb Hillel Zlatopolsky wanted to translate and disseminate chassidic teachings in the French language, the Rebbe Rayatz expressed reservations about it, and on a unique occasion gave a private instruction to Reb David Brawman to learn French.

The Rebbe wrote many times to French-speaking people that although the secretaries do not understand this language, the Rebbe himself does understand it, and therefore they can continue to write to him in French, even though the response they will receive (typed by the secretaries) will be in the holy language [Hebrew], and they can continue to write to him in French, even though the responses to the letters come in other languages.

During the farbrengen of Shabbos Parshas Chukas-Balak 5749 (1989), a group of guests from France was present, and during the farbrengen the Rebbe dedicated a short sicha to them in a rare manner, in the French language, and this was also the case in the sicha of Shabbos Parshas Vayeshev 5752 (1991).

Apart from this, there were several occasions during general yechidus for guests from France that the Rebbe spoke to them in French, and there is even documentation of this, in addition to dozens and hundreds of people who conversed with the Rebbe in this language during private yechidus and dollar distributions.

The Rebbe's books that were translated into the French language were mostly translated by Reb Chaim Mellul and published by Beit Lubavitch Paris.