Etymologically
Log in

rocher

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the French word rocher

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 1140 Geffrei Gaimar More words from the 12th century
Ultimate origin
Vulgar Latin *rocca

Pronunciation

Forms

rocher m (plural rochers)[1] Old French rochier.[2][1] Anglo-Norman also had rocheir, rochere and rochiere.[3] In the 16th century Palsgrave still wrote rochier and pronounced the i and the r.[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French rochier, from Old French roche (“rock”) + -ier.[2][1][5][6][7][8] Littré set it beside a Latin form roccarius.[4] The base goes back to a type Vulgar Latin *rocca, of unknown origin and probably pre-Latin.[6]

Compare Old Occitan rochier.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

About 1140 Geffrei Gaimar uses rochier for a mass of stone at the surface of the ground.[2][5] The Anglo-Norman Dictionary has a record from 1121–35.[3]

Semantic evolution

Close in meaning to roche, rocher rather names a mass of a definite shape, often steep or pointed, and it is the commoner word in speech.[7] Like roche it came to mean a reef (Belleau, before 1577, Montaigne, 1580).[2][7][9] It also took symbolic values: refuge, in biblical style (1560), and both firmness (before 1558) and hardness of heart (cœur de rocher, 1579, parler aux rochers, 1694).[2][7]

From the 16th century it named things shaped like a rock: a table ornament of goldsmith's work (1599), an artificial rock or fountain in a garden (1690, rocher factice; 1694, rocher d'eau), and a sweet: rocher de confiture (1690), then a small rock-shaped cake (1904).[2][7] It also names a murex shell (1736) and, in anatomy, the petrous part of the temporal bone (1765).[7][2] In mountaineering it means a rock face (1883), and faire du rocher is to climb rock rather than snow or ice (1897).[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1140 – Geffrei Gaimar uses rochier.[2]
  • Before 1558 – Mellin de Saint-Gelais uses it as a figure of constancy.[2][7]
  • 1560 – The Bible of the Rebul press uses it for a refuge.[2][7]
  • 1579 – Cœur de rocher “hard-hearted person” in Garnier.[2]
  • 1599 – Used for a table ornament imitating a mountain.[2][7]
  • 1690 – Furetière records rocher de confiture.[2]
  • 1736 – Used for a murex shell.[7]
  • 1765 – The anatomical sense is recorded in the Encyclopédie.[2][7]
  • 1883 – Used in mountaineering for a rock face.[2]
  • 1904 – Used for a small rock-shaped cake.[2][7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A large mass of hard stone, usually steep, standing out from the ground: un rocher dominait la plage “a rock towered over the beach”.[10][2]
  2. A rock at or below the surface of the sea; a reef.[10][2]
  3. Rock as a material or as a rock face;[10][2] faire du rocher: to go rock climbing.[10][2]
  4. (figurative) A symbol of firmness, or of hardness of heart: cœur de rocher “heart of stone”.[2][4]
  5. Le Rocher: Monaco.[10]
  6. An artificial rock in a garden or park.[2][4]
  7. A small rock-shaped cake or sweet[2][7]
  8. (anatomy) The petrous part of the temporal bone.[7][10]
  9. A murex shell.[7][9]

Usage notes

A rare technical verb rocher, also formed from roche and recorded from 1622, is used of beer foaming as it ferments and of molten silver blistering as it cools.[5][10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  3. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  4. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  5. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 10, 436a
  9. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  10. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
Cite this entry

“Rocher.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/rocher. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·