Battye, Adrian; Hintze, Marie-Anne; Rowlett, Paul (2000). The French Language Today (2nd ed.). Routledge. p. 12. ISBN978-1-136-90328-1. [2-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it was deemed no longer make to think of the varieties spoken in Gaul as Latin. Although a precise date can't be given, there is a general consensus (see Wright 1982, 1991, Lodge 1993) that an awareness of a vernacular, distinct from Latin, emerged at the end of the eighth century.]
