Amgine#TIL: The etymology of 'buoy' descends from French, bouée, from Middle and Old French, and before that from Frankish '*baukn'. It indicated a small float tethered to the #anchor, to indicate its location on the seabed.
It is generally translated into English as 'buoy'. However, the idiom 'bouée de sauvetage' - literally 'buoy of rescue/salvation - usually means 'life jacket' or 'life preserver'.
#Wiktionary: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bou%C3%A9e
#Trésor: https://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/bou%C3%A9e
