In 1066 AD, William the Conqueror's victory at the Battle of Hastings brought a new French-speaking ruling class to England. This created a curious linguistic divide that we can still see on our dinner plates today.... The Norman lords who were served the meals used French-derived words for the cooked meat on their tables. They ate 'boeuf' (beef), 'porc' (pork), and 'mouton' (mutton). Meanwhile, the Anglo-Saxon peasants who raised the animals continued to use their Old English terms for the live creatures. They tended to the 'cu' (cow), the 'picg' (pig), and the 'sceap' (sheep). Over time, this class-based language seeped into modern English. The words of the wealthy nobles became the standard for the food, while the words of the farmers remained for the animals. While this changed the language, studies suggest it didn't drastically alter the diet of the common person, though pork did grow in popularity after the conquest. The separation of animal and meat names is a direct and lasting legacy of a single historical event. #archaeohistories