Editing Barque (section)

== Etymology==
[[File:Elissa-Sailing-Ship.jpg|200px|thumb|left|The tall ship ''Elissa'' is a three-masted barque in Galveston.]]
[[File:Sedov in TSR at Kotka July 2017 2.jpg|200px|thumb|upright|Russian ''Sedov'' at the Kantasatama Harbour in [[Kotka]], [[Finland]], during the Tall Ships’ Races 2017]]
The word "barque" entered English via the French term, which in turn came from the [[Latin language|Latin]] ''barca'' by way of [[Occitan language|Occitan]], [[Catalan language|Catalan]], Spanish, or Italian.

The Latin {{Lang|la|barca}} may stem from [[Celtic language|Celtic]] ''barc'' (per [[Rudolf Thurneysen|Thurneysen]]){{Dubious|must be ''*barcā'' or sth., not a modern Celtic endingless form|date=April 2021}} or Greek ''baris'' (per [[Friedrich Christian Diez|Diez]]), a term for an Egyptian boat. The ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'', however, considers the latter improbable.<ref name="OED">{{OED|barque}}</ref>

The word ''barc'' appears to have come from Celtic languages. The form adopted by English, perhaps from [[Irish language|Irish]], was "bark", while that adopted by Latin as {{Lang|la|barca}} very early, which gave rise to the French {{Lang|fr|barge}} and {{Lang|fr|barque}}.

In Latin, Spanish, and Italian, the term ''barca'' refers to a small [[boat]], not a full-sized ship. French influence in England led to the use in English of both words, although their meanings now are not the same.

Well before the 19th century, a [[barge]] had become interpreted as a small vessel of coastal or inland waters, or a fast rowing boat carried by warships and normally reserved for the commanding officer. Somewhat later, a bark became a sailing vessel of a distinctive rig as detailed below. In Britain, by the mid-19th century, the spelling had taken on the French form of ''barque''. Although [[Francis Bacon (philosopher)|Francis Bacon]] used the spelling with a "q" as early as 1592,<ref>''The Works of Francis Bacon'', Volume 8, Cambridge University Press, 2011</ref> Shakespeare still used the spelling "barke" in [[Sonnet 116]] in 1609. Throughout the period of sail, the word was used also as a shortening of the [[barca-longa]] of the [[Mediterranean Sea]].{{citation needed|date=November 2017}}

The usual modern spelling convention is that, to distinguish between [[homophone]]s, when spelled as barque it refers to a ship, and when spelled as bark it refers to either a [[Bark (sound)|sound]] or to a [[Bark (botany)|tree hide]].<ref name="bark">{{cite web |title=Bark |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bark |website=Merriam-Webster |access-date=24 September 2020 |ref=mw_bark |archive-date=14 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200514174602/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bark |url-status=live }}</ref>

"[[Barcarole]]" in music shares the same etymology, being originally a folk song sung by [[Venice|Venetian]] [[gondolier]]s and derived from ''barca''&mdash;"boat" in Italian,<ref>{{cite web |title=Barca |url=https://www.wordreference.com/iten/barca |website=Word Reference |access-date=24 September 2020 |ref=wr_barca |archive-date=30 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220330032003/https://www.wordreference.com/iten/barca |url-status=live }}</ref> or in Late Latin.<ref>{{cite web |title=Barca |url=https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=barca |website=Online Etymology Dictionary |access-date=24 September 2020 |ref=eo_barca |archive-date=30 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220330031959/https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=barca |url-status=live }}</ref>