Lac des Truites is a

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

in the municipality of

Soultzeren Soultzeren () is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. See also * Communes of the Haut-Rhin department The following is a list of the 366 communes of the French department of Haut-Rhin. The communes co ...

(

Haut-Rhin Haut-Rhin (, ; Alsatian: ''Owerelsàss'' or '; german: Oberelsass, ) is a department in the Grand Est region of France, bordering both Germany and Switzerland. It is named after the river Rhine. Its name means ''Upper Rhine''. Haut-Rhin is th ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

). It means ''Lake of Trouts'' in English (when translated literally).

Geography

At an elevation of 1061m, its surface area is 2.8 hectares and is the highest lake of the

Vosges The Vosges ( , ; german: Vogesen ; Franconian and gsw, Vogese) are a range of low mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single ...

massif.Lac du Forlet on the Visit Alsace website
/ref> The lake on one side has been made into a barrage, in part to fortify the lakeside but also making it possible to regulate the flow of water into the Fecht (a local river, which is a

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drai ...

of the

Ill ILL may refer to: * '' I Love Lucy'', a landmark American television sitcom * Illorsuit Heliport (location identifier: ILL), a heliport in Illorsuit, Greenland * Institut Laue–Langevin, an internationally financed scientific facility * Interlibra ...

, which itself is a tributary of the

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...

Toponymy

The original Alsatian name of the lake was ''Förlenweier''. Frenchifying the

toponyms Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

of Alsace, the lake was first called Lac du Foehrlé (ö is often spelled or changed to oe, as in Fischboedle) which then became Lac du Forlet (which it is still called on many maps and waymarks). It seems however that French authorities misread ''Förle'' as a diminutive of the German word ''Forelle'' which in French is ''truite'' (in English

trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', '' Salmo'' and '' Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salm ...

),Lac Blanc - Lac Noir - Lac Des Truites on the randoalsace website
/ref> whence the name, when in fact it is a diminutive of ''Föhre'' which means

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accepts ...

, meaning the name was in fact ''lake surrounded by small pine''. It may also have something to do with the fact that the

Abbey of Murbach Murbach Abbey (french: Abbaye de Murbach) was a famous Benedictine monastery in Murbach, southern Alsace, in a valley at the foot of the Grand Ballon in the Vosges. The monastery was founded in 727 by Eberhard, Count of Alsace, and established a ...

used the lake as a reservoir for trout (which can still be seen in the lake). In

Welche Welche is a little-spoken language of Alsace. A Lorrain dialect, it is closely related to French by the Oïl group. Its varieties include those of Bruche, Villé, Lièpvre, Kaysersberg and Orbey. The name ''Welche'' is a French spelling of Wel ...

(a regional dialect) the lake is called ''reïf tou blan''.

References

Truites Truites {{HautRhin-geo-stub