Gibb, it would be too easy to miss the significance of the French "voix" from 1780. I believe it's a quite a discovery.

It would be most interesting to know more about how widespread the term was and precisely what songs it was applied to.

It would be striking indeed if French had a *technical word* for "shanties" long before English - and that that word had nothing to do with French "chanter"!

Any serious French scholars out there who can add to our understanding?