Talk:Levant Fleet

Name of the Fleet

I'd like to change the name of the fleet as it seems people have confused the meaning of the name. In "Le Dictionnaire de l'Académie française 1694, t. 2" you'll find the following when you look up "ponant":

"Occident. La partie du monde qui est au couchant du soleil. En ce sens il n' est pas fort en usage. Il se dit plus ordinairement en terme de Marine, ou souvent pour distinguer l' Ocean de la Mediterranée qui est au Levant. On l' appelle, La mer du Ponant. il commande les vaisseaux du Ponant, l' armée de Ponant. Vice-admiral du Ponant. un escadre du Ponant." In English this says: "West. The part of the world where the sun sets, but this term usually isn't used in this way. It is more commonly used in the navy, or to distinguish the (Atlantic) Ocean from the Mediterranean which is to its east. It is called the western sea. He commands the vessels of the west, the army of the west. Vice-admiral of the west.

This is of course not the definition of 'levant', which the same dictionary defines as both 'rising', 'east' as well as the geographical region carrying the same name. But this definition does mention that ponant is usually only used by people from the navy, and that it is often used to distinguish the Atlantic and the Mediterranean which they say is to the east, "au levant". So I think the correct translation of "Flotte du Ponant" isn't Levant Fleet but Eastern Fleet, or Fleet of the East. In fact, considering that both the flotte du levant and -ponant were founded during the reign of Louis XIV both names might actually be literal references to his title, the sun king. In that case the names of the fleets would be the Fleet of the Rising- or Setting Sun. --Sergeant O'Brien (talk) 00:49, 9 November 2017 (UTC)