Rouchi

Rouchi
Rouchy
Pronunciation[ʁuʃi]
Native toFrance, Belgium
RegionWalloon Flanders
French Hainaut
Cambrésis
Tournaisis
EthnicityPicards
Native speakers
Unknown
DialectsKimberlot
Gommergnion
Tournaisien
Pecquois
Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3–
Spread of the Rouchi dialect in orange.
Extract of a Rouchi poem from the Denain

L’aut’ jour, j’tos au bistrot pou y déquinte eun’ pinte
Avec mes comarat’s Anatole et Lucas.
Mais i minquot Gaston ;
Li, ch’est vraimint eun cas :
Il est toudis in r’tard…
Tout d’eun cop, v’là qu’i rinte.

[The other day, I was at the tavern, drinking a pint,
With my good mates Anatole and Lucas.
But Gaston was nowhere to be found;
That fellow truly is a case:
He's always running late...
Then all at once, there he comes walking in.]

— Jean-Luc Menet, L’absinthe

Rouchi or Rouchy is a local variety of Picard spoken in the Rouchi country ("Pays Rouchi") which includes the Valenciennois, as well as Saint-Amand, Lille, Tournai, Cambrai and Douai.

This dialect is attested in documents dating back to the Middle-Ages: Serventois et sottes chansons (13th century), Chronique de Flandres (14th century) although the most popular of them remain Mirouer des simples ames anienties et qui seulement demourent en vouloir et desir d'amour (Mirror of simple and shattered souls), written by Marguerite Porete in 1290.