Old Norman was one of many langue d'oïl dialects. It was spoken throughout the region of what is now called Normandy. It is the ancestor of modern Norman, including the insular dialects (such as Jèrriais), as well as Anglo-Norman. Old Norman is often confused with Old French (Old Francien), which is sometimes used to describe all langue d'oïl dialects together. The langue doïl language family in linguistics comprises Romance languages originating in territories now occupied by northern France, part of Belgium and the Channel Islands. ... Mont Saint Michel, one of the famous symbols of Normandy. ... The Norman language is a Romance language, one of the Oïl languages. ... Jèrriais is a form of Norman language spoken in Jersey in the Channel Islands. ... The Anglo-Norman language is the name given to the variety of Norman spoken by the Anglo-Normans, the descendants of the Normans who ruled England following the conquest by William of Normandy in 1066. ... Old French is a term sometimes used to refer to the langue doïl, the continuum of varieties of Romance language spoken in territories corresponding roughly to the northern half of modern France and parts of Belgium and Switzerland during the period roughly from 1000 to 1300 A.D... Francien is a term applied to the langue doïl spoken in the Paris region (Île-de-France) before the establishment of the French language as a standard language. ...

Old Norman contained many Norse (and a few Celtic) loanwords unknown in Old French at that time.

Writings of the Jersey-born poet Wace are among the few records of Old Norman that remain. Wace (c. ...