en masse

[M-Pink]

Hi

please consider this context:

By 711 CE, the Muslim Berbers were invited to invade Spain, but this was not because the population wished to convert en masse to Islam. It was the result of tensions between Catholic Christians and Arian Christians in the Iberian peninsula, and revolved around the right to freedom of religion.

what is the meaning of the underlined phrase, what is this language?

 

[Décodeur]

"En masse" is a French-based, English saying meaning "in massive numbers."

 

[timpeac]

"En masse" is from French, but common in English, meaning "as a large majority (if not all) at the same time". You could rewrite your sentence as "...not because the whole population wished to convert to Islam".

 

[ewie]

It's definitely English, M-Pink ~ it's even in our dictionary