Abstract
The article examines some basic questions about the diatopic variation, the lexical selection and lexical change in Old French. In particular, the role, status and quantitative dimension of lexical regionalisms and lexical change is discussed. The selection processes in vocabulary, which in the different regions and political contexts of the langue d’oïl are carried out with varying speed and intensity, are exemplified by a lexical analysis of two texts, a donation-document written in a Lorrain monastery in 1234 and a marriage contract established in the French Royal Chancery in 1301. While nearly a third of the vocabulary of the Lorraine document is no longer part of today’s standard French, the vocabulary of the record of the Royal Chancery is in the 13th century already very close to that what will become the vocabulary of the future (and today’s) standard.