Melodies and song lyrics from before 1800 are documented from the Emmental, Oberhasli, Entlebuch and Simmental. In the French-speaking area of the canton of Fribourg, these songs are called Ranz des vaches. There too they contain the cry Lîoba por aria! (Cows, come to milk!) as well as the names of individual cows. The word Lobe for “cow” is common to the Alemannic and Romance Alpine dialects, and Richard Weiss (Swiss folklorist) suspects pre-Indo-European origins. To this day, the cows in central Switzerland are called d'Loobeli. Le Ranz des vaches ou Lyoba ou cow rows is a chant traditionnel a cappella des armaillis en Suisse. Il est connu dans la partie francophone, surtout dans le canton de Fribourg (L'histoire racontée se passe sur un alpage appelé "Les Colombettes", dans le su.
