In general, how much influence has the French language had on modern English?

[brentspeak]

I'm reading the Wikipedia article on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Norman_language">Anglo-Norman, trying to get some insight on how much French has been incorporated within English. I don't find the article that clearly-written, though. For instance,

The palatalization of velar consonants before the front vowel produced different results in Norman to the central langue d'oïl dialects which developed into French. English therefore, for example, has fashion from Norman féchoun as opposed to Modern French façon.

The palatalization of velar consonants before /a/ that affected the development of French did not occur in Norman dialects north of the Joret. English has therefore inherited words that retain a velar plosive where French has a fricative:

English < Norman = French

cabbage < caboche = chou
candle < caundèle = chandelle
castle < caste(l) = château
cauldron < caudron = chaudron
causeway < cauchie = chaussée
catch < cachi = chasser
cater < acater = acheter
wicket < viquet = guichet
plank < pllanque = planche
pocket < pouquette = poche
fork < fouorque = fourche
garden < gardin = jardin

Other words such as captain, kennel, cattle and canvas exemplify how Norman retained a /k/ sound from Latin that was not retained in French.

However, Anglo-Norman also acted as a conduit for French words to enter England: for example, challenge clearly displays a form of French origin, rather than the Norman calenge.

So, the words "cabbage" and "candle" didn't exist in the English language until after the Normans conquered England and brought the French language with them? It appears that's the article is saying, but it doesn't that so directly.

[MrsBrady]

1. According to my senior English teacher...

she was working on her doctorate in humanities at the time....

...she pounded 1066 into us...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_conquest_of_England
I'm surprised how much knowing that has helped me over the years.

Also, about 1990, PBS put out a good program on the development of the English Language.
Don't know anything about it's availability, but she made us watch it as a part of class.
Good viewing if you can get it, even to a 17 year old (at the time).