L'ancien français, qui se parla et s'écrivit, grossièrement, du milieu
du 9e siècle au milieu du 14e siècle, connut de multiples variations
selon temps et lieux, et nous en conservons des textes innombrables. ---
Old French was spoken and/or written in many parts of what is now
France, very roughly north of the Loire, and in parts of Belgium; it was
also used in numerous circles in England, notably after the Norman
conquest. It extended roughly from the middle of the ninth century to
some time in the fourteenth century. It never stopped evolving, and
there was much regional variation. Innumerable texts are written in that
language, which gave birth to many literary genres.