121-711: The Montreal Victoire ( French : Victoire de Montréal ) are a professional women's ice hockey team based in Montreal , Quebec . They are one of the six charter franchises of the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL). They play home games at Place Bell in Laval . On August 29, 2023, it was announced that one of the PWHL's first six franchises would be located in Montreal. On September 1, Daniele Sauvageau ,
242-464: A seal showing the future Louis VIII and his shield strewn with the "flowers". Until the late 14th century the French royal coat of arms was Azure semé-de-lis Or (a blue shield "sown" ( semé ) with a scattering of small golden fleurs-de-lis ), the so-called France Ancient , but Charles V of France changed the design to a group of three in about 1376 (see next section for France Modern ). In
363-744: A French official to teachers in the department of Finistère , in western Brittany, included the following: "And remember, Gents: you were given your position in order to kill the Breton language". The prefect of Basses-Pyrénées in the French Basque Country wrote in 1846: "Our schools in the Basque Country are particularly meant to replace the Basque language with French..." Students were taught that their ancestral languages were inferior and they should be ashamed of them; this process
484-431: A comprehensive academic study entitled "The World's 10 most influential languages". In the article, Weber ranked French as, after English, the second-most influential language of the world, ahead of Spanish. His criteria were the numbers of native speakers, the number of secondary speakers (especially high for French among fellow world languages), the number of countries using the language and their respective populations,
605-524: A dark blue field arranged two and one. The fleur-de-lys was also seen on New France's currency often referred to as "card money" . The white Royal Banner of France was used by the military of New France and was seen on naval vessels and forts of New France. After the fall of New France to the British Empire the fleur-de-lys remained visible on churches and remained part of French cultural symbolism. There are many French-speaking Canadians for whom
726-585: A dove to Saint Remigius. One version explains that an angel descended with the fleur-de-lis ampulla to anoint the king. Another story tells of Clovis putting a flower in his helmet just before his victory at the Battle of Vouillé . Through this propagandist connection to Clovis, the fleur-de-lis has been taken in retrospect to symbolize all the Christian Frankish kings, most notably Charlemagne . The graphic evolution of crita to fleur-de-lis
847-555: A foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050. French is the fastest growing language on the continent (in terms of either official or foreign languages). French is increasingly being spoken as a native language in Francophone Africa, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and
968-792: A hypothesis ventured in the 17th c. sounds very plausible to me. One species of wild iris, the Iris pseudacorus , yellow flag in English, is yellow and grows in marshes (cf. the azure field, for water). Its name in German is Lieschblume (also gelbe Schwertlilie), but Liesch was also spelled Lies and Leys in the Middle Ages. It is easy to imagine that, in Northern France, the Lieschblume would have been called 'fleur-de-lis'. This would explain
1089-542: A league and women’s hockey attendance record with a sell-out crowd of 19,285, beating the previous record of 18,013 at the 2013 IIHF Women's World Championship . Two months later, on April 20, Montréal hosted Toronto in its first-ever home match at the Bell Centre , selling out the arena and setting another new attendance record at 21,105. This game was known as "The Duel at the Top", with the two teams vying for first place in
1210-653: A period of prosperity and prominence among European nations. Richelieu established the Académie française to protect the French language. By the early 1800s, Parisian French had become the primary language of the aristocracy in France. Near the beginning of the 19th century, the French government began to pursue policies with the end goal of eradicating the many minorities and regional languages ( patois ) spoken in France. This began in 1794 with Henri Grégoire 's "Report on
1331-494: A relic of the old nominal case system of Latin longer than most other Romance languages (with the notable exception of Romanian which still currently maintains a case distinction), differentiating between an oblique case and a nominative case. The phonology was characterized by heavy syllabic stress, which led to the emergence of various complicated diphthongs such as -eau which would later be leveled to monophthongs. The earliest evidence of what became Old French can be seen in
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#17327911723851452-594: A rich historical significance and has adorned the emblems and crests of various noble houses, reflecting both cultural heritage and a sense of identity within the country. One notable household that has prominently featured this emblem is the Thopia family a ruling house in Medieval Albania during the Medieval Kingdom of Albania . A few other notable Albanian families that have distinctly featured
1573-587: A second language. French is the second most taught foreign language in the EU. All institutions of the EU use French as a working language along with English and German ; in some institutions, French is the sole working language (e.g. at the Court of Justice of the European Union ). French is also the 16th most natively spoken language in the world, the sixth most spoken language by total number of speakers , and
1694-526: A second language. However it has also become a native language in a number of urban areas, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and the Democratic Republic of the Congo . In some North African countries, though not having official status, it is also a first language among some upper classes of the population alongside indigenous languages, but only
1815-941: A second one among the general population. In 2015, approximately 40% of the Francophone population (including L2 and partial speakers) lived in Europe, 36% in sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas, and 1% in Asia and Oceania. French is the second most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union . Of Europeans who speak other languages natively, approximately one-fifth are able to speak French as
1936-510: A symbolic image for what later became a coat of arms, set their minds on the iris, a flower that was common around their homes, and is also as beautiful as it was remarkable. They called it, in short, the fleur-de-lis, instead of the flower of the river of lis . This flower, or iris, looks like our fleur-de-lis not just because of its yellow colour but also because of its shape: of the six petals, or leaves, that it has, three of them are alternatively straight and meet at their tops. The other three on
2057-547: A variant of Canadian French , is spoken in parts of New England . Missouri French was historically spoken in Missouri and Illinois (formerly known as Upper Louisiana ), but is nearly extinct today. French also survived in isolated pockets along the Gulf Coast of what was previously French Lower Louisiana , such as Mon Louis Island , Alabama and DeLisle, Mississippi (the latter only being discovered by linguists in
2178-437: Is 95%, and in the French collectivity of Wallis and Futuna , it is 84%. In French Polynesia and to a lesser extent Wallis and Futuna, where oral and written knowledge of the French language has become almost universal (95% and 84% respectively), French increasingly tends to displace the native Polynesian languages as the language most spoken at home. In French Polynesia, the percentage of the population who reported that French
2299-779: Is a Romance language of the Indo-European family . Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire . French evolved from Gallo-Romance , the Latin spoken in Gaul , and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl —languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French ( Francien ) largely supplanted. French
2420-472: Is a widespread second language among the Lebanese people , and is taught in many schools along with Arabic and English. French is used on Lebanese pound banknotes, on road signs, on Lebanese license plates , and on official buildings (alongside Arabic). Today, French and English are secondary languages of Lebanon , with about 40% of the population being Francophone and 40% Anglophone. The use of English
2541-489: Is also a working language in nonprofit organisations such as the Red Cross (alongside English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Russian), Amnesty International (alongside 32 other languages of which English is the most used, followed by Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Italian), Médecins sans Frontières (used alongside English, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic), and Médecins du Monde (used alongside English). Given
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#17327911723852662-430: Is among the top five most studied languages worldwide, with about 120 million learners as of 2017. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 16th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. French has a long history as an international language of literature and scientific standards and is a primary or second language of many international organisations including
2783-462: Is an official language in 27 countries , as well as one of the most geographically widespread languages in the world, with about 50 countries and territories having it as a de jure or de facto official, administrative, or cultural language. Most of these countries are members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), the community of 54 member states which share
2904-638: Is clearly depicted in an illustration of emperor Nikephoros Phocas's welcome ceremony in Constantinople (963 AD) included in Synopsis Istorion (dated 1070s). The fleur-de-lis pattern can also be found on Ionic capital of Panagia Skripo church (dated 870AD): The Royal Banner of France or "Bourbon flag" symbolizing royal France , was the most commonly used flag in New France . The "Bourbon flag" has three gold fleur-de-lis on
3025-652: Is enacted only in New Brunswick, where about one third of the population is Francophone. French is also an official language of all of the territories ( Northwest Territories , Nunavut , and Yukon ). Out of the three, Yukon has the most French speakers, making up just under 4% of the population. Furthermore, while French is not an official language in Ontario , the French Language Services Act ensures that provincial services are available in
3146-419: Is featured on the flag of Quebec , known as the fleurdelisé , as well as the flags of the cities of Montreal , Sherbrooke and Trois-Rivières . The fleur-de-lis symbolic origins with French monarchs may stem from the baptismal lily used in the crowning of King Clovis I (r. c. 481–509). The French monarchy may have adopted the fleur-de-lis for its royal coat of arms as a symbol of purity to commemorate
3267-503: Is growing in the business and media environment. Out of about 900,000 students, about 500,000 are enrolled in Francophone schools, public or private, in which the teaching of mathematics and scientific subjects is provided in French. Actual usage of French varies depending on the region and social status. One-third of high school students educated in French go on to pursue higher education in English-speaking institutions. English
3388-404: Is known as Old French. The period of Old French spanned between the 8th and 14th centuries. Old French shared many characteristics with Latin. For example, Old French made use of different possible word orders just as Latin did because it had a case system that retained the difference between nominative subjects and oblique non-subjects . The period is marked by a heavy superstrate influence from
3509-634: Is known in heraldic terminology as the France Ancient , with the France Modern . France moderne remained the French royal standard, and with a white background was the French national flag until the French Revolution , when it was replaced by the tricolor of modern-day France. The fleur-de-lis was restored to the French flag in 1814, but replaced once again after the revolution against Charles X of France in 1830. After
3630-469: Is often considered to be a useful skill by business owners in the United Kingdom; a 2014 study found that 50% of British managers considered French to be a valuable asset for their business, thus ranking French as the most sought-after foreign language there, ahead of German (49%) and Spanish (44%). MIT economist Albert Saiz calculated a 2.3% premium for those who have French as a foreign language in
3751-828: Is one of the official languages of such major international and regional courts, tribunals, and dispute-settlement bodies as the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights , the Caribbean Court of Justice , the Court of Justice for the Economic Community of West African States , the Inter-American Court of Human Rights , the International Court of Justice , the International Criminal Tribunal for
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3872-576: Is taught in universities around the world, and is one of the world's most influential languages because of its wide use in the worlds of journalism, jurisprudence , education, and diplomacy. In diplomacy, French is one of the six official languages of the United Nations (and one of the UN Secretariat 's only two working languages ), one of twenty official and three procedural languages of the European Union , an official language of NATO ,
3993-477: Is the fact that the French or Franks, before entering Gaul itself, lived for a long time around the river named Lys in the Flanders. Nowadays, this river is still bordered with an exceptional number of irises —as many plants grow for centuries in the same places—: these irises have yellow flowers, which is not a typical feature of lilies but fleurs-de-lis. It was thus understandable that our kings, having to choose
4114-553: Is the language of business and communication, with French being an element of social distinction, chosen for its emotional value. French is an official language of the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu , where 31% of the population was estimated to speak it in 2023. In the French special collectivity of New Caledonia , 97% of the population can speak, read and write French while in French Polynesia this figure
4235-483: Is the native language of about 23% of the Swiss population, and is spoken by 50% of the population. Along with Luxembourgish and German, French is one of the three official languages of Luxembourg , where it is generally the preferred language of business as well as of the different public administrations. It is also the official language of Monaco . At a regional level, French is acknowledged as an official language in
4356-492: Is the second-most spoken language (after English) in the states of Maine and New Hampshire . In Louisiana , it is tied with Spanish for second-most spoken if Louisiana French and all creoles such as Haitian are included. French is the third most spoken language (after English and Spanish) in the states of Connecticut , Rhode Island , and New Hampshire . Louisiana is home to many distinct French dialects, collectively known as Louisiana French . New England French , essentially
4477-424: Is the sole official language in the province of Quebec , where some 80% of the population speak it as a native language and 95% are capable of conducting a conversation in it. Quebec is also home to the city of Montreal , which is the world's fourth-largest French-speaking city, by number of first language speakers. New Brunswick and Manitoba are the only officially bilingual provinces, though full bilingualism
4598-539: The 2023 PWHL Draft on September 18, the team selected 15 players; their first pick, at sixth overall, was Canadian national team member Erin Ambrose . The team colours were officially announced on November 14, 2023, as burgundy, "sand", and "storm". Later that month, it was revealed that the team would host the majority of its games at the Verdun Auditorium , with four games at Place Bell . On December 29,
4719-711: The Aosta Valley region of Italy where it is the first language of approximately 50% of the population, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands . It is also spoken in Andorra and is the main language after Catalan in El Pas de la Casa . The language is taught as the primary second language in the German state of Saarland , with French being taught from pre-school and over 43% of citizens being able to speak French. The majority of
4840-462: The Aosta Valley region of Italy; and various communities elsewhere. French is estimated to have about 310 million speakers, of which about 80 million are native speakers. According to the OIF, approximately 321 million people worldwide are "able to speak the language" as of 2022, without specifying the criteria for this estimation or whom it encompasses. In Francophone Africa, it is spoken mainly as
4961-602: The Capetian House of Anjou support in assuming the throne of Bosnia. The coat of arms contained six fleurs-de-lis , where the flower itself is today often considered to be a representation of the autochthonous golden lily, Lilium bosniacum . The emblem was revived in 1992 as a national symbol of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and was part of the flag of Bosnia-Herzegovina from 1992 to 1998 . The state insignia were changed in 1999. The former flag of
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5082-539: The Democratic Republic of Congo . There is not a single African French , but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages . Sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth. It is also where the language has evolved the most in recent years. Some vernacular forms of French in Africa can be difficult to understand for French speakers from other countries, but written forms of
5203-485: The European Union , French was the dominant language within all institutions until the 1990s. After several enlargements of the EU (1995, 2004), French significantly lost ground in favour of English, which is more widely spoken and taught in most EU countries. French currently remains one of the three working languages, or "procedural languages", of the EU, along with English and German. It is the second-most widely used language within EU institutions after English, but remains
5324-559: The Francien dialect is one that not only continued but also thrived during the Middle French period (14th–17th centuries). Modern French grew out of this Francien dialect. Grammatically, during the period of Middle French, noun declensions were lost and there began to be standardized rules. Robert Estienne published the first Latin-French dictionary, which included information about phonetics, etymology, and grammar. Politically,
5445-646: The Immaculate Conception . According to Pierre-Augustin Boissier de Sauvages , an 18th-century French naturalist and lexicographer : The old fleurs-de-lis, especially the ones found in our first kings' sceptres, have a lot less in common with ordinary lilies than the flowers called flambas [in Occitan ], or irises, from which the name of our own fleur-de-lis may derive. What gives some colour of truth to this hypothesis that we already put forth,
5566-877: The International Olympic Committee , the Council of Europe , the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development , Organization of American States (alongside Spanish, Portuguese and English), the Eurovision Song Contest , one of eighteen official languages of the European Space Agency , World Trade Organization and the least used of the three official languages in the North American Free Trade Agreement countries. It
5687-626: The Oaths of Strasbourg and the Sequence of Saint Eulalia , while Old French literature began to be produced in the eleventh century, with major early works often focusing on the lives of saints (such as the Vie de Saint Alexis ), or wars and royal courts, notably including the Chanson de Roland , epic cycles focused on King Arthur and his court , as well as a cycle focused on William of Orange . It
5808-520: The United Nations , the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization , the World Trade Organization , the International Olympic Committee , the General Conference on Weights and Measures , and the International Committee of the Red Cross . French is a Romance language (meaning that it is descended primarily from Vulgar Latin ) that evolved out of the Gallo-Romance dialects spoken in northern France. The language's early forms include Old French and Middle French . Due to Roman rule, Latin
5929-407: The arms of Plantagenet , as "arms of pretence ". After the kings of France adopted France Modern , the kings of England adopted the new design as quarterings from about 1411. The monarchs of England (and later of Great Britain ) continued to quarter the French arms until 1801, when George III abandoned his formal claim to the French throne . On 29 December 1429, King Charles VII ennobled
6050-411: The fleur-de-lis (⚜️) is depicted on the traditional coat of arms of France that was used from the High Middle Ages until the French Revolution in 1792, and then again in brief periods in the 19th century. This design still represents France and the House of Bourbon in the form of marshalling in the arms of Spain , Quebec , and Canada — for example. Other European nations have also employed
6171-527: The fleur-de-lis remains a symbol of their French cultural identity. Québécois , Franco-Ontarians , Franco-Ténois and Franco-Albertans , feature the fleur-de-lis prominently on their flags . The fleur-de-lys, as a traditional royal symbol in Canada, has been incorporated into many national symbols , provincial symbols and municipal symbols, the Canadian Red Ensign that served as the nautical flag and civil ensign for Canada from 1892 to 1965 and later as an informal flag of Canada before 1965 featured
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#17327911723856292-455: The 1990s) but these varieties are severely endangered or presumed extinct. French is one of two official languages in Haiti alongside Haitian Creole . It is the principal language of education, administration, business, and public signage and is spoken by all educated Haitians. It is also used for ceremonial events such as weddings, graduations, and church masses. The vast majority of the population speaks Haitian Creole as their first language;
6413-474: The 20th century, when it was replaced by English as the United States became the dominant global power following the Second World War . Stanley Meisler of the Los Angeles Times said that the fact that the Treaty of Versailles was written in English as well as French was the "first diplomatic blow" against the language. During the Grand Siècle (17th century), France, under the rule of powerful leaders such as Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIV , enjoyed
6534-510: The Canadian capital, is also effectively bilingual, as it has a large population of federal government workers, who are required to offer services in both French and English, and is just across the river from the Quebecois city of Gatineau . According to the United States Census Bureau (2011), French is the fourth most spoken language in the United States after English, Spanish, and Chinese, when all forms of French are considered together and all dialects of Chinese are similarly combined. French
6655-614: The Caribbean that are collectively referred to as the French West Indies , namely Guadeloupe , Saint Barthélemy , Saint Martin , and Martinique . French is the official language of both French Guiana on the South American continent, and of Saint Pierre and Miquelon , an archipelago off the coast of Newfoundland in North America. French was the official language of the colony of French Indochina , comprising modern-day Vietnam , Laos , and Cambodia . It continues to be an administrative language in Laos and Cambodia, although its influence has waned in recent decades. In colonial Vietnam,
6776-402: The County of La Marche. Many of the current French departments use the symbol on their coats-of-arms to express this heritage. The fleur-de-lis appears for instance on the coat-of-arms of Guadeloupe , an overseas département of France in the Caribbean, Saint Barthélemy , an overseas collectivity of France, and French Guiana . The overseas department of Réunion in the Indian Ocean uses
6897-408: The Empire, this local elite had been slowly abandoning Gaulish entirely, but the rural and lower class populations remained Gaulish speakers who could sometimes also speak Latin or Greek. The final language shift from Gaulish to Vulgar Latin among rural and lower class populations occurred later, when both they and the incoming Frankish ruler/military class adopted the Gallo-Roman Vulgar Latin speech of
7018-410: The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina contains a fleur-de-lis alongside the Croatian chequy . Fleurs also appear in the flags and arms of many cantons , municipalities , cities and towns. Today, it is a traditional symbol of the Bosniak people . It is still used as official insignia of the Bosniak Regiment of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina . Fleurs-de-lis today also appear in
7139-416: The Germanic Frankish language , which non-exhaustively included the use in upper-class speech and higher registers of V2 word order , a large percentage of the vocabulary (now at around 15% of modern French vocabulary ) including the impersonal singular pronoun on (a calque of Germanic man ), and the name of the language itself. Up until its later stages, Old French , alongside Old Occitan , maintained
7260-413: The arms of members of the Spanish branch of the French House of Bourbon , including the king of Spain , as well as that of the unrelated grand duke of Luxembourg . According to French historian Georges Duby , the three petals represent the three medieval social estates : the commoners, the nobility, and the clergy. In Italy, the fleur de lis - called giglio bottonato ( it ) - is mainly known from
7381-533: The chief of their coat of arms; such cities include Paris, Lyon , Toulouse , Bordeaux , Reims , Le Havre , Angers, Le Mans , Aix-en-Provence , Tours, Limoges , Amiens , Orléans, Rouen, Argenteuil, Poitiers, Chartres , and Laon , among others. The fleur-de-lis was the symbol of Île-de-France , the core of the French kingdom. It has appeared on the coat-of-arms of other historical provinces of France including Burgundy, Anjou, Picardy, Berry, Orléanais, Bourbonnais, Maine, Touraine, Artois, Dauphiné, Saintonge, and
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#17327911723857502-434: The color pattern to the final gules lily on argent background. This heraldic charge is often known as the Florentine lily to distinguish it from the conventional (stamen-not-shown) design. As an emblem of the city, it is therefore found in icons of Zenobius , its first bishop, and associated with Florence's patron Saint John the Baptist in the Florentine fiorino . Several towns subjugated by Florence or founded within
7623-513: The conversion of Clovis I, and a reminder of the fleur-de-lis ampulla that held the oil used to anoint the king . So, the fleur-de-lis stood as a symbol of the king's divinely approved right to rule. The thus "anointed" kings of France later maintained that their authority was directly from God. A legend enhances the mystique of royalty by informing us that a vial of oil—the Holy Ampulla—descended from Heaven to anoint and sanctify Clovis as King, descending directly on Clovis or perhaps brought by
7744-419: The country near French-speaking Quebec, however, it is the foreign language more commonly taught. Vowel phonemes in French Fleur-de-lis The fleur-de-lis , also spelled fleur-de-lys (plural fleurs-de-lis or fleurs-de-lys ), is a common heraldic charge in the ( stylized ) shape of a lily (in French, fleur and lis mean ' flower ' and ' lily ' respectively). Most notably,
7865-439: The crest of the city of Florence . In the Florentine fleurs-de-lis the stamens are always posed between the petals . Originally argent (silver or white) on gules (red) background, the emblem became the standard of the imperial party in Florence ( parte ghibellina ), causing the town government, which maintained a staunch Guelph stance, being strongly opposed to the imperial pretensions on city states, to reverse
7986-404: The demographic prospects of the French-speaking nations of Africa, researcher Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry wrote in 2014 that French "could be the language of the future". However, some African countries such as Algeria intermittently attempted to eradicate the use of French, and as of 2024 it was removed as an official language in Mali and Burkina Faso . Significant as a judicial language, French
8107-448: The economic power of the countries using the language, the number of major areas in which the language is used, and the linguistic prestige associated with the mastery of the language (Weber highlighted that French in particular enjoys considerable linguistic prestige). In a 2008 reassessment of his article, Weber concluded that his findings were still correct since "the situation among the top ten remains unchanged." Knowledge of French
8228-489: The elites primarily spoke French, while many servants who worked in French households spoke a French pidgin known as " Tây Bồi " (now extinct). After French rule ended, South Vietnam continued to use French in administration, education, and trade. However, since the Fall of Saigon and the opening of a unified Vietnam's economy, French has gradually been effectively displaced as the first foreign language of choice by English in Vietnam. Nevertheless, it continues to be taught as
8349-424: The emblem, their purpose was of connecting their rulership with this symbol of saintliness and divine right. Louis VI (r. 1108–1137) and Louis VII (r. 1137–1180) of the House of Capet first started to use the emblem, on sceptres for example. Louis VII ordered the use of fleur-de-lis clothing in his son Philip's coronation in 1179, while the first visual evidence of clearly heraldic use dates from 1211:
8470-409: The end of the Second French Empire , Henri, comte de Chambord , was offered the throne as King of France, but he agreed only if France gave up the tricolor and brought back the white flag with fleurs-de-lis . Curiously the French tricolore with the royal crown and fleur-de-lys was possibly designed by the count in his younger years as a compromise His condition that his country needed to abandon
8591-433: The family of Joan of Arc , seen as a French hero in the ensueing Hundred Years' War , with an inheritable symbolic denomination. The Chamber of Accounts in France registered the family's designation to nobility on 20 January 1430. The grant permitted the family to change their surname to du Lys. In about 1376, Charles V changed the design from the all-over scattering of flowers to a group of three, thus replacing what
8712-640: The first Western designs which look similar to modern fleurs-de-lis . In the East it was found on the gold helmet of a Scythian king uncovered at the Ak-Burun kurgan and conserved in Saint Petersburg 's Hermitage Museum . See also the very similar lily symbol on coins from the Achemenid and Ptolemaic province of Yehud (c. 350-200 BC) and Hasmonean-ruled Judah (2nd and 1st century BC). For
8833-516: The first government authority to adopt Modern French as official was the Aosta Valley in 1536, while the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts (1539) named French the language of law in the Kingdom of France . During the 17th century, French replaced Latin as the most important language of diplomacy and international relations ( lingua franca ). It retained this role until approximately the middle of
8954-486: The flags and arms of many cantons , municipalities , cities and towns of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In Brazil, the arms and flag of the city of Joinville feature three fleurs-de-lis surmounted with a label of three points (for the House of Orléans ), alluding to François d'Orléans, Prince of Joinville , son of King Louis-Philippe I of France, who married Princess Francisca of Brazil in 1843. The fleur-de-lis pattern
9075-915: The former Yugoslavia , International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda , the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea the International Criminal Court and the World Trade Organization Appellate Body . It is the sole internal working language of the Court of Justice of the European Union , and makes with English the European Court of Human Rights 's two working languages. In 1997, George Weber published, in Language Today ,
9196-469: The front. The team did have its own colour scheme, featuring burgundy, black, and beige. In October 2023, the league registered a trademark for the name Montreal Echo. Ultimately, when the league unveiled franchise names in September 2024, the team was given the name Victoire in a nod to the city's history of success in ice hockey. According to a report from The Hockey News , other names in contention for
9317-400: The game, Ann-Sophie Bettez scored in overtime to secure the team's first win by a score of 3–2. The team hosted its first home game on January 13, with PWHL Boston securing a 3–2 overtime win in front of a sold-out crowd at Verdun Auditorium. On February 16, 2024, Montreal played a match hosted by PWHL Toronto at Scotiabank Arena in a game dubbed "The Battle on Bay Street". The game set
9438-829: The gender of the corresponding word in Gaulish. The estimated number of French words that can be attributed to Gaulish is placed at 154 by the Petit Robert , which is often viewed as representing standardized French, while if non-standard dialects are included, the number increases to 240. Known Gaulish loans are skewed toward certain semantic fields, such as plant life ( chêne , bille , etc.), animals ( mouton , cheval , etc.), nature ( boue , etc.), domestic activities (ex. berceau ), farming and rural units of measure ( arpent , lieue , borne , boisseau ), weapons, and products traded regionally rather than further afield. This semantic distribution has been attributed to peasants being
9559-460: The iconic fleur-de-lis in their heraldic coat of arms are the Durazzo family , Skuraj family , Muzaka family , Luccari family , Angeli family and many other Albanian noble families . The fleurs-de-lis was the symbol of the House of Kotromanić , a ruling house in medieval Bosnia during the medieval Kingdom of Bosnia , adopted by the first Bosnian king, Tvrtko I , in recognition of
9680-519: The language are very closely related to those of the rest of the French-speaking world. French is the second most commonly spoken language in Canada and one of two federal official languages alongside English. As of the 2021 Canadian census , it was the native language of 7.7 million people (21% of the population) and the second language of 2.9 million (8% of the population). French
9801-479: The language, although it has now given way to Tamil and English. A former French mandate , Lebanon designates Arabic as the sole official language, while a special law regulates cases when French can be publicly used. Article 11 of Lebanon's Constitution states that "Arabic is the official national language. A law determines the cases in which the French language is to be used". The French language in Lebanon
9922-612: The language. The Act applies to areas of the province where there are significant Francophone communities, namely Eastern Ontario and Northern Ontario . Elsewhere, sizable French-speaking minorities are found in southern Manitoba, Nova Scotia , Prince Edward Island and the Port au Port Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador, where the unique Newfoundland French dialect was historically spoken. Smaller pockets of French speakers exist in all other provinces. The Ontarian city of Ottawa ,
10043-479: The last to hold onto Gaulish. The beginning of French in Gaul was greatly influenced by Germanic invasions into the country. These invasions had the greatest impact on the northern part of the country and on the language there. A language divide began to grow across the country. The population in the north spoke langue d'oïl while the population in the south spoke langue d'oc . Langue d'oïl grew into what
10164-619: The life of centuries-old insignia and emblems". The fleur-de-lis is represented in Unicode at U+269C ⚜ FLEUR-DE-LIS in the Miscellaneous Symbols block. Fleur-de-lis is the stylized depiction of the lily flower. The name itself derives from ancient Greek λείριον > Latin lilium > French lis . The lily has always been the symbol of fertility and purity, and in Christianity it symbolizes
10285-642: The monarchy of France, which developed from the Kingdom of the West Franks, could trace its heritage back to the divine gift of royal arms received by Clovis. This story has remained popular, even though modern scholarship has established that the fleur-de-lis was a religious symbol before it was a true heraldic symbol. Along with true lilies, it was associated with the Virgin Mary, and when the 12th-century Capetians , Louis VI and Louis VII, started to use
10406-451: The name and the formal origin of the design, as a stylized yellow flag. There is a fanciful legend about Clovis which links the yellow flag explicitly with the French coat of arms. Another (debated) hypothesis is that the symbol derives from the angon or sting , a typical Frankish throwing spear. It has consistently been used as a royal emblem, though different cultures have interpreted its meaning in varying ways. Gaulish coins show
10527-420: The necessity and means to annihilate the patois and to universalize the use of the French language". When public education was made compulsory , only French was taught and the use of any other ( patois ) language was punished. The goals of the public school system were made especially clear to the French-speaking teachers sent to teach students in regions such as Occitania and Brittany . Instructions given by
10648-652: The official use or teaching of French. It is spoken as a first language (in descending order of the number of speakers) in France; Canada (especially in the provinces of Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick); Belgium ( Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region ); western Switzerland (specifically the cantons forming the Romandy region); parts of Luxembourg; parts of the United States (the states of Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont); Monaco;
10769-506: The one-time coach for Canada's national team , was announced as the team's general manager. Kori Cheverie , a former assistant coach with the Canadian national team and the first woman to have coached a Canadian men's hockey team, was named the team's inaugural coach on September 13. Montreal's first three players—Canadian national team members Marie-Philip Poulin , Laura Stacey , and Ann-Renee Desbiens —were signed on September 5, 2023. At
10890-404: The opposite, bend down so that the middle one seems to make one with the stalk and only the two ones facing out from left and right can clearly be seen, which is again similar with our fleurs-de-lis, that is to say exclusively the one from the river Luts whose white petals bend down too when the flower blooms. The heraldist François Velde is known to have expressed the same opinion: However,
11011-496: The origin of the fleur-de-lis is unclear, it has retained an association with French nobility and associated cities and regions. It is widely used in French city emblems as in the coat of arms of the city of Lille, Saint-Denis, Brest, Clermont-Ferrand , Boulogne-Billancourt , and Calais . Some cities that had been particularly faithful to the French Crown were awarded a heraldic augmentation of two or three fleurs-de-lis on
11132-534: The other main foreign language in the Vietnamese educational system and is regarded as a cultural language. All three countries are full members of La Francophonie (OIF). French was the official language of French India , consisting of the geographically separate enclaves referred to as Puducherry . It continued to be an official language of the territory even after its cession to India in 1956 until 1965. A small number of older locals still retain knowledge of
11253-471: The preferred language of certain institutions or administrations such as the Court of Justice of the European Union , where it is the sole internal working language, or the Directorate-General for Agriculture . Since 2016, Brexit has rekindled discussions on whether or not French should again hold greater role within the institutions of the European Union. A leading world language , French
11374-401: The red and blue colors that it had adopted to symbolize the ideals of the French Revolution of 1789 was rejected and France became a republic . It remains an enduring symbol of France which appears on French postage stamps, although it has never been adopted officially by any of the French republics , that unlike other republican nations, never officially adopted a coat of arms. Although
11495-439: The reign of King Louis IX (St. Louis) the three petals of the flower were said to represent faith, wisdom and chivalry, and to be a sign of divine favour bestowed on France. During the next century, the 14th, the tradition of Trinity symbolism was established in France, and then spread elsewhere. In 1328, King Edward III of England inherited a claim to the crown of France, and in about 1340 he quartered France Ancient with
11616-471: The rest largely speak French as a first language. As a French Creole language , Haitian Creole draws the large majority of its vocabulary from French, with influences from West African languages, as well as several European languages. It is closely related to Louisiana Creole and the creole from the Lesser Antilles . French is the sole official language of all the overseas territories of France in
11737-432: The same feature. It appears on the coat of Port Louis , the capital of Mauritius which was named in honour of King Louis XV. On the coat of arms of Saint Lucia it represents the French heritage of the country. While the fleur-de-lis has appeared on countless European coats of arms and flags over the centuries, it is particularly associated with the French monarchy in a historical context and continues to appear in
11858-423: The standings. Montréal managed to draw large crowds throughout the season. Montreal clinched a berth in the inaugural PWHL playoffs on March on April 24 with a 5–2 win over PWHL New York . They faced Boston in the first round of the playoffs, and lost three straight games in overtime—including a triple-overtime affair in the second game of the series—to get eliminated from contention. After the season, Erin Ambrose
11979-490: The symbol. The fleur-de-lis became "at one and the same time, religious, political, dynastic, artistic, emblematic, and symbolic", especially in French heraldry . The Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph are among saints often depicted with a lily. Some modern usage of the fleur-de-lis reflects "the continuing presence of heraldry in everyday life", often intentionally, but also when users are not aware that they are "prolonging
12100-416: The team announced that Poulin would serve as team captain, with Stacey and Erin Ambrose serving as assistant captains. Montreal's first ever game took place on January 2, 2024, against PWHL Ottawa ; the 8,318 fans in attendance at Ottawa's TD Place Arena set a new attendance record for professional women's hockey. Claire Dalton scored the first goal in franchise history. Although Montreal twice trailed in
12221-531: The team included the Lumieres and Metro. In addition to the Victoire name, the team's logo was unveiled, featuring "MV" initials and a fleur-de-lis , Quebec's national symbol. The team retained its colour scheme. Assisted by Jillian Dempsey and Kennedy Marchment French language French ( français [fʁɑ̃sɛ] or langue française [lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz] )
12342-664: The territory of the Florentine Republic adopted a variation of the Florentine lily in their crests, often without the stamens. In Italy, fleurs-de-lis have been used for some papal crowns and coats of arms, the Farnese Dukes of Parma , and by some doges of Venice . The design of the arms of Jurbarkas is believed to originate from the arms of the Sapieha house, a Lithuanian noble family which
12463-466: The total number of French speakers will reach approximately 500 million in 2025 and 650 million by 2050, largely due to rapid population growth in sub-Saharan Africa . OIF estimates 700 million French speakers by 2050, 80% of whom will be in Africa. In a study published in March 2014 by Forbes , the investment bank Natixis said that French could become the world's most spoken language by 2050. In
12584-409: The traditional number of three golden fleur-de-lys on a blue background. The arms of Canada throughout its variations has used fleur-de-lys, beginning in 1921 and subsequent various has featuring the blue "Bourbon Flag" in two locations within arms. The Canadian royal cypher and the arms of Canada feature St Edward's Crown that displays five cross pattée and four fleur-de-lys. The fleur-de-lis
12705-411: The transition from religious to dynastic symbolism and the beginning of European heraldic use of the fleur-de-lis , see France section , chronologically followed by England through claims to the French crown . List in alphabetical order by country: In Albania, fleur-de-lis ( Albanian : Lulja e Zambakut ) has been associated with the different Albanian noble families . This iconic symbol holds
12826-679: The two official languages—along with Dutch —of the Brussels-Capital Region , where it is spoken by the majority of the population (approx. 80%), often as their primary language. French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland, along with German, Italian, and Romansh , and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland, called Romandy , of which Geneva is the largest city. The language divisions in Switzerland do not coincide with political subdivisions, and some cantons have bilingual status: for example, cities such as Biel/Bienne and cantons such as Valais , Fribourg and Bern . French
12947-508: The urban intellectual elite. The Gaulish language likely survived into the sixth century in France despite considerable Romanization . Coexisting with Latin, Gaulish helped shape the Vulgar Latin dialects that developed into French contributing loanwords and calques (including oui , the word for "yes"), sound changes shaped by Gaulish influence, and influences in conjugation and word order. Recent computational studies suggest that early gender shifts may have been motivated by
13068-485: The use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, and legal contracts; advertisements must bear a translation of foreign words. In Belgium, French is an official language at the federal level along with Dutch and German. At the regional level, French is the sole official language of Wallonia (excluding a part of the East Cantons , which are German-speaking ) and one of
13189-536: The workplace. In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese . In English-speaking Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, French is the first foreign language taught and in number of pupils is far ahead of other languages. In the United States, French is the second-most commonly taught foreign language in schools and universities, although well behind Spanish. In some areas of
13310-402: The world's French-speaking population lives in Africa. According to a 2023 estimate from the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie , an estimated 167 million African people spread across 35 countries and territories can speak French as either a first or a second language . This number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as
13431-457: Was accompanied by textual allegory . By the late 13th century, an allegorical poem by Guillaume de Nangis (d. 1300), written at Joyenval Abbey in Chambourcy , relates how the golden lilies on an azure ground were miraculously substituted for the crescents on Clovis' shield, a projection into the past of contemporary images of heraldry. In the 14th century, French writers asserted that
13552-417: Was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the ( Germanic ) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to the French colonial empire , there are numerous French-based creole languages , most notably Haitian Creole . A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French
13673-608: Was briefly readopted in 1970 during the Soviet occupation , but abolished that same year. Three fleurs-de-lis appeared in the personal coat of arms of Grandmaster Alof de Wignacourt who ruled the Malta between 1601 and 1622. His nephew Adrien de Wignacourt , who was Grandmaster himself from 1690 to 1697, also had a similar coat of arms with three fleurs-de-lis . The town of Santa Venera has three red fleurs-de-lis on its flag and coat of arms. These are derived from an arch which
13794-819: Was during the period of the Crusades in which French became so dominant in the Mediterranean Sea that became a lingua franca ("Frankish language"), and because of increased contact with the Arabs during the Crusades who referred to them as Franj , numerous Arabic loanwords entered French, such as amiral (admiral), alcool (alcohol), coton (cotton) and sirop (syrop), as well as scientific terms such as algébre (algebra), alchimie (alchemy) and zéro (zero). Within Old French many dialects emerged but
13915-463: Was gradually adopted by the inhabitants of Gaul. As the language was learned by the common people, it developed a distinct local character, with grammatical differences from Latin as spoken elsewhere, some of which is attested in graffiti. This local variety evolved into the Gallo-Romance tongues, which include French and its closest relatives, such as Arpitan . The evolution of Latin in Gaul
14036-596: Was known in the Occitan-speaking region as Vergonha . Spoken by 19.71% of the European Union's population, French is the third most widely spoken language in the EU, after English and German and the second-most-widely taught language after English. Under the Constitution of France , French has been the official language of the Republic since 1992, although the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts made it mandatory for legal documents in 1539. France mandates
14157-416: Was named the league's top defender for its inaugural year. In September 2024, the team announced that Place Bell would serve as its primary home venue for the 2024–25 season . Montreal operated with league branding during the PWHL's inaugural season, along with the other charter franchises. The team was known as PWHL Montreal and wore a league-wide jersey template that featured the city's name diagonally on
14278-535: Was part of the Wignacourt Aqueduct that had three sculpted fleurs-de-lis on top, as they were the heraldic symbols of Alof de Wignacourt , the Grand Master who financed its building. Another suburb which developed around the area became known as Fleur-de-Lys , and it also features a red fleur-de-lis on its flag and coat of arms. The fleur-de-lis was the symbol of the House of Nemanjic ,
14399-615: Was responsible for Jurbarkas receiving city rights and a coat of arms in 1611. The three fleurs-de-lis design on the Jurbarkas coat of arms was abolished during the final years of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , but officially restored in 1993 after the independence of present-day Lithuania was re-established. Before restoration, several variant designs, such as using one over two fleurs-de-lis , had been restored and abolished. The original two over one version
14520-594: Was shaped by its coexistence for over half a millennium beside the native Celtic Gaulish language , which did not go extinct until the late sixth century, long after the fall of the Western Roman Empire . The population remained 90% indigenous in origin; the Romanizing class were the local native elite (not Roman settlers), whose children learned Latin in Roman schools. At the time of the collapse of
14641-570: Was the language they use the most at home rose from 67% at the 2007 census to 74% at the 2017 census. In Wallis and Futuna, the percentage of the population who reported that French was the language they use the most at home rose from 10% at the 2008 census to 13% at the 2018 census. According to a demographic projection led by the Université Laval and the Réseau Démographie de l'Agence universitaire de la Francophonie ,
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