🚀 go-pugleaf

On Sun, 25 Jan 1998 12:44:09 GMT, gusty@clark.net (Harlan Messinger)
wrote:

>dmark@acsu.buffalo.edu (David Mark) wrote:
>
>>I have a question.  I finally managed to find a French dictionary 
>>in a store over here-- not a French-English dictionary, but a 
>>French-French dictionary, words and their meanings.  I was surprised to 
>>find <<etang>> defined as:
>>
>>etendue d'eau moins vaste et moins profunde qu'un lac
>>
>>(yes, I realize that the initial 'e's in etang and etendue have accents 
>>over them...)
>>
>>... "extent of water smaller and less deep than a lake"
>>
>>very much like the definition of "pond" in English.
>>
>>Anyway, my question is how to explain "Etang de Berre", "Etang de Vaccares", 
>>et tout les autres etangs grandes de Languedoc??  These are actually much
>>larger than typical lakes in France, so they would seem to contradict the
>>definitions.
>>
>>So...
>>Is the above dictionary definition "wrong"?
>
>An etang IS a pond, but the dictionnaire Bordas adds, "Certaines
>lagunes sont aussi appelees etangs (par ex. les etangs qui borde la
>cote du Languedoc." So there you are.
>
>I see that the key is the etymology: the word is cognate with
>"stagnant". So the use of the word for a lagoon as well as a pond
>seems appropriate.

I believe this meaning of "etang" must be older, and only left in proper
names. I have lived in Sete, bordering the "Etang de Thau", and noticed
people write "Etang" instead of "etang" when referring to it. In other
words, they consider it as a proper name.

BTW, Vaccares and Berre are not in Languedoc. Vaccares is in Camargue
(which is Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur for the administration, but
consider a region in itself by the people), and Berre is in Provence.
Thau is in Languedoc, however.

Stephane Di Cesare

Lund University - Computational Linguistics Student
Sweden