The French language was originally called "Latin". When Julius Caesar invaded, he was so successful at coming, seeing and conquering , that everyone there started to speak Latin. The French then started to get so sloppy with their Latin, (presumably because they were sick to death of having to work out the declension of "mensa" every time they wanted to call someone a "thick-head"), as well as allowing Gaulish words to sneak into their vocabulary, that they started to speak a dialect of Latin called "French".

 Most Francophiles get annoyed when French is referred to as "A degenerate form of Latin."  Not everyone in France actually spoke French. There were a significant numbers of non-Latin descended languages in France, and the South of France spoke a similar language referred to as Occitan. In fact it was mostly those in Paris who spoke French as we know it , but with the French revolution came a law forcing everyone in France to suffer the language of Parisians. Ever since, bodies such as the "Academic Francaise" have ensured that France does not get infected by English words, such as television, and retain the purity of the French language . Up until the twentieth century the official response of the French government to anybody trying to speak another native French language, such as Breton or Occitan, was the same. Signs were erected in fishing villages in Brittany warning "No spitting or speaking Breton."