Quote:
Originally posted by Moiraine:
Though it is not totally exact that French comes only from Latin. For centuries, France was divided between the south - with Latin roots and culture - and the north - with german roots and culture. Until some 3 centuries ago, there were even two main languages : "oc" for the south and "oil" from the north, from which derived the many local dialects.
Even now, most northern people drink beer, southern people prefer wine. 
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Err, Claude, what I said is that French and Latin share a common root. Both are Roman or Italic languages as opposed to Germanic ones. Also I'm speaking strict linguistics here, not cultural influences. Old English had four main dialects as well, many other languages still do.
Provencal and French did evolve from the Italic branch of the Indo-European language (so directly from Latin), Breton from the Celtic branch. If you go back far enough, they are all thought to have come from a single Ur-language, of which no tangible evidence has been found.