Rock and Rocher

I found these rochers des Glénan in a chocolatier’s window — crunchy, hand-formed clusters of chocolate, puffed rice and almonds. The name caught my attention straight away.

In French, rocher means ‘rock’, and that’s exactly what these sweets resemble — jagged, rough-edged, unpolished. But the word itself has a layered past.

This post explores how ‘rock’ and ‘rocher’ trace their way through Old English, Old French, and Latin — sometimes branching into Celtic or Breton territory.