varech

Forms

varech m (usually uncountable, plural varechs)^[1] Old French werec, warec and verec, Middle French varet (1367); ⟨varech⟩ is recorded from 1369 and ⟨varec⟩ from 1550.^[2][3][4] An ordinance of 1681 has “Varech ou Vraic”.^[2] Gattel (1841) and the Robert also give the spelling ⟨varec⟩.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French werec, borrowed from Old Norse vágrek (“what is cast up on the shore, wreckage”).^{[2][5][3][4][6]} Wiktionary takes the Old French word as a variant of wrek (“shipwreck”), from the same Old Norse source.^[1] Rey sets it beside English wreck and German Wrack.^[3] Littré derived it through Medieval Latin wreckum from Old English wrac, an older explanation.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record, early in the 12th century, is marin werec, “seaweed of the sea”, in the Voyage de saint Brendan, where the Latin prose version has alga.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

From about 1175 (Horn) the word also meant the remains of a shipwreck, and by about 1181 everything the sea throws up on the coast, as opposed to what is fished.^[2][3] In feudal law the droit de varech was the right to take what the sea cast ashore; an ordinance of Charles V of 1374 already names the droiz de Veret.^[2][7][4] By 1694 it could name a sunken ship.^[3][7]

The sense “wreckage” prevailed from the 16th to the 18th century,^[3] but in Norman the seaweed sense was alive from the 14th century and is recorded again in 1732.^[4] It has since driven out the other senses, so that the link with shipwrecks is no longer felt; today it is a partial synonym of goémon.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1112 – Marin werec “seaweed” in the Voyage de saint Brendan.^[2][4][6]
• c. 1175 – Werec “remains of a shipwreck”, in Horn.^[2][3]
• c. 1181 – Warec “what the sea throws on the shore”, in a charter of Dol.^[2]
• 1367 – The form varet in a Rouen regulation of the fish trade.^[2]
• 1369 – The spelling varech appears.^[3][4]
• 1374 – An ordinance of Charles V names the droiz de Veret.^[2]
• 1550 – The spelling varec is recorded.^[3]
• 1694 – Varet is used of a ship that has sunk.^[3]
• 1732 – Varech ou vraicq for seaweed.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Seaweed, especially brown algae such as wrack and kelp, cast up by the sea or gathered on the shore and used as fertilizer, litter or a source of iodine and soda.^[2][8][9][1]
2. (dated) Everything the sea throws up on the coast, wreckage: droit de varech, the right to take it.^[4][7]
3. (dated) A ship that has sunk.^[7][3]

Related words

• vrac
• goémon

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 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 c d e f g h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 17, 418b
6. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)