Oïl languages in the context of "Langues d'oc"

Middle French (French: moyen français) is a historical division of the French language that covers the period from the mid-14th to the early 17th centuries. It is a period of transition during which:

• the French language became clearly distinguished from the other competing Oïl languages, which are sometimes subsumed within the concept of Old French (l'ancien français)
• the French language was imposed as the official language of the Kingdom of France in place of Latin and other Oïl and Occitan languages
• the literary development of French prepared the vocabulary and grammar for the Classical French (le français classique) spoken in the 17th and 18th centuries.

It is the first version of French that is largely intelligible to Modern French, contrary to Old French.

Poitevin (French pronunciation: [pwat(ə)vɛ̃] ; endonym: poetevin) is a dialect of Poitevin–Saintongeais, one of the regional languages of France, spoken in the historical province of Poitou, now administratively divided between Pays de la Loire (Loire countries) and Nouvelle-Aquitaine (New Aquitaine). It is not as commonly spoken as it once was, as the standard form of French now predominates. Poitevin is now classified as one of the langues d'oïl but is distinguished by certain features adopted from Occitan (langue d'oc).

The language is spoken on what was the border between the two language families of oïl and oc (placenames in the region clearly show historical settlement of oc speakers). The langue d’oïl subsequently spread south, absorbing oc features.