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Le mot nouvste
Donald E. Pusch, May 2011

Over the years, I’ve researched a number of French ships’ logs of the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries, and it has not been uncommon to encounter terms that are
difficult to understand and to translate into English. However, laying siege to such terms
usually meets with success rather quickly if the right siege engines are applied, including,
especially, nautical dictionaries of the period. On occasion, deciphering such terms
requires considerable additional reading and contemplation, but rarely does a term remain
completely un-deciphered or un-translated. Several years ago, however, I encountered a
term that, up to the present, I must place squarely in this rare group. I originally
discovered it in the 1758–1759 log of the stores ship (flûte) Fortune. In that log, the
weather is described on occasion as nouvste. In fact, the log uses the term nouvste no less
than sixty-nine time, always in reference to the weather. The term was later found in a
number of other logs dating back to 1674. Considering the frequency of use, one might
suppose that the term could be easily found in published nautical or meteorological texts
of the period. This has not proven to be the case, and, as of this writing, the term
remains—at least to this writer—a real mystery.
Shown below are extracts from five, seventeenth- and eighteenth-century French
ships’ logs in which the term was found. The context seems to imply somber or overcast
weather, and it is often used in association with rain, fog, storms, or an obscured sky or
horizon. Also from the context, it is possible to narrow the meaning somewhat. The
Fortune’s log entry of February 25–26, 1759, records that the weather was nouvste et
orageux; thus, nouvste appears not to be the same as orageux (stormy). In the Fortune’s
1765 log, the weather is sometimes novuste (a spelling variant) and sometimes couvert.
So, it would appear that nouvste is not the same as couvert (overcast). In three other logs
in which the term was found, there are occasions where the weather is described as
nouvste and avec beaucoup de pluye. Therefore, it can be assumed that nouvste is not the
same as pluvieux (rainy).
It is noted in that in the 1758–1759 log of the Fortune, the terms naugeux and
sombre—very common in other logs—are never used to describe the weather, so perhaps
nouvste means naugeux (cloudy) or sombre (somber).
When the weather is described as nouvste in the two logs of the Fortune, it is often
not possible to make a noon sighting. Such a condition can occur when one either cannot
see the horizon or cannot see the overhead sun (or cannot see either). In another log, that
of the Chariot Royal, 1752–1753, the horizon is described as novuste (another spelling
variant), a condition that made it difficult to identify nearby land. In the log of the
Émerillon, 1674–1675, the term nouvste is used in conjunction of high winds and/or rain.
In the log of the Caméléon, 1753, the term is used in conjunction with foul weather.
Taken together, the above uses of the word strongly suggest that nouvste had
something to do with low visibility caused by cloud cover (or possibly haze) that was low
enough and thick enough to obscure the horizon. In fact, there appears to be a tenuous
etymological link with the French word nuée (literary feminine noun, meaning cloud),
associated with the classic Latin nubes (cloud).
Following are quotes from the various logs mentioned above:

Log of the Fortune, 1758–1759. A.N., Marine 4 JJ 19 (81)

Entry of 12–13 May 1758
Depuis hier Midy à aujourd’huy Les vents ont varié du Nord au NO Et du NO au
NNE Et du NNE à ONO passant par Le Nord petit fres Le temps Nouvste La mer
houleuze . . . .
Entry of 21–22 May 1758
Depuis hier Midy à aujourd’huy Midy Les vents ont varié du ONO au Sud petit
fres Le temps Nouvste La mer Belle . . . .
Entry of 23–24 May 1758
Depuis hier Midy à auhjourd’huy Midy Les vents ont varié de LESE à LENE Et
de LENE jusqu'au SO petit fres Le temps Nouvste La Mer houleuze . . . .
Entry of 25–26 May 1758
Depuis hier Midy à ajourd’huy Midy Les vents ont varié de Lest au NNE Et
vantant par grin Et par orage tombant Beaucoup de pluis Le temp Nouvste La
Mer Belle . . . .
Entry of 28–29 May 1758
Depuis hier Midy à aujourd’huy Midy Les vents ont Reigné au SO Bon fres La
Mer fort grosse Le temps Nouvste Singlant au plus pres duvent . . . .
Entry of 31 May–1 June 1758
Depuis hier Midy à aujourd’huy Midy Les vents on Reigné a ouest Bon fres Ne
vantant que par grin Le temp Nouvste La mer houleuze . . . .
Entry of 16–17 June 1758
Depuis hier Midy à aujourd’huy Midy Les vents ont variée du SE à Lest Et de
Lest à LESE assé Bon fres Le temps toujours Nouvste la Mer Belle . . . .
Entry of 18–19 August 1758
Les vents ont variée de LEST à LENE Bon fres Le temps Nouvste Et
orageux . . . .
Entry of 25–26 February 1759
Depuis hier Midy à aujourd’huy Midy Les vents ont variée du SO à ONO gros
fres La Mer fort grosse Le temps Nouvste passant des grin fort violant de
Moment à autre . . . .
Entry of 10–11 March 1759
. . . Les vents on variée du NE à Lest Bon fres Le temps Nouvste de temps à autre
de La Brume La Mer Belle . . . .

2
Log of the Fortune, 1765. A.N., Marine 4 JJ 22 (73)
Entry of 18 August 1765
Les vents ont regné a L’ouest très foible Gouvernant toute voills dehors a
L’E¼SE et L’ESE tems novuste . . . .
Entry of 26 August 1765
Les vents ont varié du SO au NO et NNE petit frais tems Couvert et pluye . . . .
Log of the Émerillon, 1674–1675. A.N., Marine 4 JJ 20 (2)
Entry of 1 June 1674
Le premier du mois de Juin nous deradé de la Rade Susditte [Fort Royal de La
Martinique] ayant 3 anchors mouilées par un grand vent de ENE beaucoup de
pluye Et nouvste . . . .
Entry of 8 December 1675
Le mesme Jour a 6 h du soir Le vent Lest tourné au SSE Et avons fait porté au
NNE Le vent Estoit Extrement fort avec nouvste . . . .
Log of the Caméléon, 1753. A.N., Marine 4 JJ 19 (79)
Entry of 24 August 1753
Jusqua onze heures que le vent a Calmé et S’est rengé au SSE avec Beaucoup
d’Eclairs Temp Extremement novuste apparence de mauvais tems . . . .
Log of the Chariot Royal, 1752–1753. Private archive. This was the log of one of the
Chariot Royal’s pilots, Pierre Déli.
Entry of June 26–27, 1753
Lhorizon Etant novuste
Entry of June 30–July 1, 1753
. . . pour Lors nous avons fait de La voille singlant toujour a LEnE temps novuste
Et aparance De pluye et de vent.

Some sources that were consulted:

Bourdé de Villehuët, Jacques. Manuel des marins ou explication des termes de marine, 2
vols. Lorient: Julien Le Jeune Fils, 1773.
Bourdé de Villehuët, Jacques. Le manoeuvres, ou, Essai sur la théorie et la pratique du
navire . . . . Paris, 1769.
Burn, Robert. A Naval and Military Technical Dictionary of the French language . . . .
London: John Murray, 1852.
Dictionnaire de l’Académie françoise, nouvelle édition, 2 vols. Paris: Moutardier, 1802.
Duboille, C. Manuel lexique ou dictionnaire portatif des mots françois, dont la
signification n’est pas familiere a tout le monde, nouvelle édition, 2 vols. Paris: Les
Libraires Associés, 1788.

3
Godefroy, Frédéric. Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes
du IXe au XVe siècle, 10 tom. Paris, 1888. Reprint, New York: Kraus, 1961.
5:541 – Nublece, -sse, -sce, s. f., Amas de nuages, nuage, obscurité.
5:543 – Nueus, -eux, adj., nuageux.
Huguet, Edmond. Dictionnaire de la langue française du seixième siecle, 7 tom. Paris:
Didier, 1961.
5:464 – Nueux. Formé de nues, d’une nue, de la nature d’une nue. Nuageux.
« Quand de là haut tant de flammes sont mornes en tens nueux »
(Buttet, Amalthee, 262, p. 324.)
Lamy, Édouard. Petite dictionnaire de marine . . . . Paris, 1839.
Lescallier, baron Daniel. Vocabulaire des Termes de Marine anglois et françois en deux
parties. Paris: Imprimerie royale, 1777.
Ménage, Gilles. Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue françoise, 2 tom. Paris, 1750.
Reprint: Genève: Slatkin, 1973.
Noblet, Albert. Dictionnaire anglais-français et français-anglais des termes nautique.
Paris: Société d’éditions géographiques, maritimes et coloniales, 1926.
Nogùes, J. Manuel du jeune marin, contenant l'instructions raisonnée . . . . Paris, 1814.
Papillon de la Ferté, Denis-Pierre-Jean. Éléments d’architecture, de fortifications et de
navigation . . . . Paris, 1787.
Rey, Alain (sous la direction de). Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, 2 tom.
Paris: Dictionnaires Le Robert, 1992.
Romme, Charles. Dictionnaire de la marine françois. La Rochelle: P. L. Chavet, Paris,
1792.
Online Resources:
ARTFL Project (The University of Chicago):
Nicot, Jean. Thresor de la langue française, 1606.
Féraud, Jean-François. Dictionaire critique de la langue française. Marseille:
Mossy, 1787–1788.
Dictionnaire de L’Académie française, 1st (1694), 4th (1762), 5th (1798), 6th
(1835), and 8th (1932-5) editions.
Sources to be consulted:
Witcomb, Henry. Dictionnaire des termes de marine: français-anglais & anglais-
français, 1883.
Jal, Augustin. Glossaire nautique: Répertoire polyglotte de termes de marine anciens et
modernes, 1848. [A note received May 28, 2008 from Jonathan Slocum (Research
Scientist, Interim Director, Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas,
Austin) indicates that this volume glosses only words beginning with the letter A.]
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