ranz des vaches
Preserved but no longer current.
Simple melodies played by the Swiss mountaineers on their Alp- horn when they drove their herds to pasture, or call them home. Des vaches means "of the cows"; the meaning of ranz is not so cer- tain, but it is thought to be a dialectal variation of ranger, the call being made pour ranger des vaches, to bring the cows home.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “ranz des vaches” mean?
Simple melodies played by the Swiss mountaineers on their Alp- horn when they drove their herds to pasture, or call them home. Des vaches means "of the cows"; the meaning of ranz is not so cer- tain, but it is thought to be a dialectal variation of ranger, the call being made pour ranger des vaches, to bring the cows home.
Is “ranz des vaches” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.