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77-557: It covered an area roughly corresponding with the actual French regions of Occitanie and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur . The septentrional Chasséen culture spread throughout the plains and plateaux of France, including the Seine basin and the upper Loire valleys, and extended to the present-day départments of Haute-Saône , Vaucluse , Alpes-de-Haute-Provence , Pas-de-Calais , and Eure-et-Loir . Excavations at Bercy (in Paris ) have revealed

154-518: A Chasséen village (4000 BC - 3800 BC) on the right bank of the Seine; artifacts include wood canoes, pottery, bows and arrows, and wood and stone tools. Chasséens were sedentary farmers ( rye , panic grass , millet , apples , pears , prunes ) and herders ( sheep , goats , oxen , pigs ). They lived in huts organized into small villages (100-400 people). Their pottery was little decorated. They had no metal technology (which appeared later) but mastered

231-553: A common origin (see Occitano-Romance languages ). The language was one of the first to gain prestige as a medium for literature among Romance languages in the Middle Ages. Indeed, in the 12th and 13th centuries, Catalan troubadours such as Guerau de Cabrera , Guilhem de Bergadan, Guilhem de Cabestany, Huguet de Mataplana , Raimon Vidal de Besalú, Cerverí de Girona , Formit de Perpinhan, and Jofre de Foixà wrote in Occitan. At

308-643: A consonant), whereas the southernmost dialects have more features in common with the Ibero-Romance languages (e.g. betacism ; voiced fricatives between vowels in place of voiced stops; - ch - in place of - it -), and Gascon has a number of unusual features not seen in other dialects (e.g. /h/ in place of /f/ ; loss of /n/ between vowels; intervocalic -r- and final -t/ch in place of medieval - ll -). There are also significant lexical differences, where some dialects have words cognate with French, and others have Catalan and Spanish cognates. Nonetheless, there

385-452: A contingent of men at arms). In that year, the three entered into a perpetual union, after which their contribution of royal officers was summoned jointly rather than separately for each of the three sénéchaussées . Towards the end of the 14th century, the term "country of the three seneschalties" ( pays des trois sénéchaussées ), later to become known as Languedoc, designated the two bailiwicks of Bèucaire-Nimes and Carcassona , and

462-687: A member of the Socialist Party , was elected to the presidency of the Regional Council of Occitania . The Hôtel de région , where the Regional Council of Occitania meets, is situated in Toulouse . The new administrative region includes provinces and territories of diverse cultural and historical origin: Languedoc (High and Low Languedoc), Països Catalans ( Roussillon , Cerdanya , Vallespir , Conflent , Capcir ),

539-746: A part of a wider Occitano-Romanic group. One such classification posits three groups: According to this view, Catalan is an ausbau language that became independent from Occitan during the 13th century, but originates from the Aquitano-Pyrenean group. Occitan has 3 dialects spoken by Jewish communities that are all now extinct. A sociolect of the Gascon dialect spoken by Spanish and Portuguese Jews in Gascony . It, like many other Jewish dialects and languages, contained large amounts of Hebrew loanwords. It went extinct after World War 2 with

616-540: A second Occitan immigration of this period was assimilated by the similar Navarro-Aragonese language , which at the same time was fostered and chosen by the kings of Aragon . In the 14th century, Occitan across the whole southern Pyrenean area fell into decay and became largely absorbed into Navarro-Aragonese first and Castilian later in the 15th century, after their exclusive boroughs broke up (1423, Pamplona 's boroughs unified). Gascon-speaking communities were called to move in for trading purposes by Navarrese kings in

693-542: A single written standard form, nor does it have official status in France, home to most of its speakers. Instead, there are competing norms for writing Occitan, some of which attempt to be pan-dialectal, whereas others are based on a particular dialect. These efforts are hindered by the rapidly declining use of Occitan as a spoken language in much of southern France, as well as by the significant differences in phonology and vocabulary among different Occitan dialects. According to

770-476: A unitary language, as it lacks an official written standard . Like other languages that fundamentally exist at a spoken, rather than written, level (e.g. the Rhaeto-Romance languages , Franco-Provençal , Astur-Leonese , and Aragonese ), every settlement technically has its own dialect, with the whole of Occitania forming a classic dialect continuum that changes gradually along any path from one side to

847-625: A written account in Occitan from Pamplona centered on the burning of borough San Nicolas from 1258, while the History of the War of Navarre by Guilhem Anelier (1276), albeit written in Pamplona, shows a linguistic variant from Toulouse . Things turned out slightly otherwise in Aragon, where the sociolinguistic situation was different, with a clearer Basque-Romance bilingual situation (cf. Basques from

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924-443: Is Fenouillèdes , the Occitan part of the department of Pyrénées-Orientales . Occitan language Italy Occitan ( English: / ˈ ɒ k s ɪ t ən , - t æ n , - t ɑː n / ; Occitan pronunciation: [utsiˈta, uksiˈta] ), also known as lenga d'òc ( Occitan: [ˈleŋɡɒ ˈðɔ(k)] ; French : langue d'oc ) by its native speakers, sometimes also referred to as Provençal ,

1001-410: Is "probably not more divergent from Occitan overall than Gascon is". There is no general agreement about larger groupings of these dialects. Max Wheeler divides the dialects into two groups: Pierre Bec divides the dialects into three groups: In order to overcome the pitfalls of the traditional romanistic view, Bec proposed a "supradialectal" classification that groups Occitan with Catalan as

1078-631: Is a Romance language spoken in Southern France , Monaco , Italy 's Occitan Valleys , as well as Spain 's Val d'Aran in Catalonia ; collectively, these regions are sometimes referred to as Occitania . It is also spoken in Calabria ( Southern Italy ) in a linguistic enclave of Cosenza area (mostly Guardia Piemontese ). Some include Catalan in Occitan, as the linguistic distance between this language and some Occitan dialects (such as

1155-743: Is a historical region of southwestern Europe in which Occitan language was the main vernacular language . This territory was already united, in Roman times first as the Diocese of Vienne and then as the Seven Provinces ( Septem Provinciae ) and in Aquitaine at the beginning of the Middle Ages (Aquitanica, Visigoth kingdom of Toulouse), before the Frankish conquest. Occitania

1232-464: Is a significant amount of mutual intelligibility . Gascon is the most divergent, and descriptions of the main features of Occitan often consider Gascon separately. Max Wheeler notes that "probably only its copresence within the French cultural sphere has kept [Gascon] from being regarded as a separate language", and compares it to Franco-Provençal, which is considered a separate language from Occitan but

1309-608: Is characterized by "the Occitan culture", since the Middle Ages another expression of Romance culture in France and to a lesser extent in Italy , Spain and Monaco . It is presented and recognized on institutional sites of French communities, such as those of the Lot-et-Garonne County Council and the city of Agen . Most of the territory that came to be called Languedoc (the region where langue d'oc

1386-974: Is spoken; in Occitan Lengadòc , pronounced [ˌleŋɡɔˈðɔ(k)] ) became attached to the Kingdom of France in the 13th century, following the Albigensian Crusade (1208–1229). This crusade aimed to put an end to what the Church considered the Cathar heresy , and enabled the Capetian dynasty to extend its influence south of the Loire . As part of this process, the former principalities of Trencavel (the Viscounty of Albi , Carcassona , Besièrs , Agde and Nimes ) were integrated into

1463-413: Is the other native language. Up to seven million people in France understand the language, whereas twelve to fourteen million fully spoke it in 1921. In 1860 , Occitan speakers represented more than 39% of the whole French population (52% for francophones proper); they were still 26% to 36% in the 1920s and fewer than 7% in 1993. Occitan is fundamentally defined by its dialects, rather than being

1540-484: Is the second-largest region in mainland France, covering an area of 72,724 km (28,079 sq mi); it has a population of 5,845,102 (2017). It has a Mediterranean coast on the southeast and is neighboured by Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur on the east, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes on the northeast and Nouvelle-Aquitaine on the west and northwest, as well as foreign borders of Andorra ( Canillo , Encamp , La Massana , Ordino ) and Spain ( Aragon and Catalonia ) on

1617-467: Is worthier and better suited for romances and pastourelles ; but [the language] from Limousin is of greater value for writing poems and cançons and sirventés ; and across the whole of the lands where our tongue is spoken, the literature in the Limousin language has more authority than any other dialect, wherefore I shall use this name in priority. The term Provençal , though implying a reference to

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1694-527: The òc language (Occitan), the oïl language (French), and the sì language (Italian). The word òc came from Vulgar Latin hoc ("this"), while oïl originated from Latin hoc illud ("this [is] it"). Old Catalan and now the Catalan of Northern Catalonia also have hoc ( òc ). Other Romance languages derive their word for "yes" from the Latin sic , "thus [it is], [it

1771-640: The Romance of Flamenca (13th century), the Song of the Albigensian Crusade (1213–1219?), Daurel e Betó (12th or 13th century), Las, qu'i non-sun sparvir, astur (11th century) and Tomida femina (9th or 10th century). Occitan was the vehicle for the influential poetry of the medieval troubadours ( trobadors ) and trobairitz : At that time, the language was understood and celebrated throughout most of educated Europe. It

1848-624: The County of Foix , and the eastern parts of what was formerly Gascony ( Armagnac , Comminges , Couserans , Bigorre , Condomois , Nébouzan , Rivière-Verdun ), and Guiana ( Carcin , Roergue ). During the Ancien Régime , most of these territories lay within the jurisdiction of the Parlement of Toulouse , founded in 1443. Occitania ( Occitània or Óucitanìo in Occitan )

1925-633: The County of Roussillon in 1209). The new Province of Roussillon also known simply as Roussillon, brought together the medieval administrative courts, or vigueries , of Roussillon, Conflent , and the north of the County of Cerdanya which were part of the government structure of the Crown of Aragon 's (and attached to the Principality of Catalonia ) counties of Roussillon and Cerdanya ( governació dels comtats de Rosselló i Cerdanya in Catalan ) at

2002-595: The Gascon language ) is similar to the distance between different Occitan dialects. Catalan was considered a dialect of Occitan until the end of the 19th century and still today remains its closest relative. Occitan is an official language of Catalonia, Spain, where a subdialect of Gascon known as Aranese is spoken (in the Val d'Aran ). Since September 2010, the Parliament of Catalonia has considered Aranese Occitan to be

2079-531: The Haut-Agenais used the term Pais de Guiana in a campaign which evoked its historical identity to promote the Lot-et-Garonne and part of the valley of Dròt . This reference is now superseded in the promotion of tourism by the designation Pais del Dròt . The appellations Quercy and Roergue, in contrast, retain a strong identity. Gascony is the former province located on the territory of

2156-589: The Occitan linguistic area, in its Languedocien dialectal variant. They were possessions of the Counts of Toulouse from the 9th century, at various stages a minor branch or the main branch. Like the other possessions of the Counts of Toulouse, they were integrated for the first time with the French royal domain in 1271, and then yielded to the kings of England under the 1360 Treaty of Brétigny . The province of Quercy

2233-673: The Royal French Domain in 1224. The Counts of Toulouse followed them in 1271. The remaining feudal enclaves were absorbed progressively up to the beginning of the 16th century; the County of Gévaudan in 1258, the County of Melgueil ( Mauguiò ) in 1293, the Lordship of Montpellier in 1349 and the Viscounts of Narbonne in 1507. The territory falling within the jurisdiction of the Estates of Languedoc , which convened for

2310-468: The UNESCO Red Book of Endangered Languages , four of the six major dialects of Occitan (Provençal, Auvergnat , Limousin and Languedocien) are considered severely endangered , whereas the remaining two ( Gascon and Vivaro-Alpine ) are considered definitely endangered . The name Occitan comes from the term lenga d'òc ("language of òc "), òc being the Occitan word for yes. While

2387-582: The Val d'Aran cited c.  1000 ), but a receding Basque language (Basque banned in the marketplace of Huesca, 1349). While the language was chosen as a medium of prestige in records and official statements along with Latin in the early 13th century, Occitan faced competition from the rising local Romance vernacular, the Navarro-Aragonese , both orally and in writing, especially after Aragon's territorial conquests south to Zaragoza , Huesca and Tudela between 1118 and 1134. It resulted that

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2464-627: The Vascones ) and Gascony in the 13th century, the territory was geographically diverse, situated between the Atlantic Ocean , Garona and the Pyrenees . Claiming a cultural identity based on evolving occupation, from the Aquitani peoples of Proto-Basque language to a Gascon population sharing a latinized Occitan dialect , it constitutes the current Gascon linguistic area . Between

2541-512: The 15th and the beginning of the 16th centuries, it was progressively integrated into the Royal French domain . Comenge yielded to the kings of France in 1443, extinguishing the local dynasty. Armagnac , Bigorre and Nebosan followed, with the county of Foix , in 1607. The County of Foix is an old French county created out of the County of Carcassonne in around 1050 for Bernard Roger , son of Roger I of Carcassonna . In 1398,

2618-653: The 17th century onward, there was only one intendance for the whole of Languedoc, with its seat in Montpellier. The former provinces of Gascony (in Gascon Gasconha , Occitan pronunciation: [ɡasˈkuɲɔ] ), and Guyenne ; in Occitan Guiana [ˈɡjanɔ] ) were historically part of the Great South-West of France ( Grand Sud-Ouest français ), and derived from

2695-452: The Champ du Poste necropolis ( Carcassonne ), three individuals were genetically characterized, and the two Y-chromosome haplogroups found were different: G2a2a1a2a1 and H2m. Occitania (administrative region) Occitania ( French : Occitanie [ɔksitani] ; Occitan : Occitània [utsiˈtanjɔ] ; Catalan : Occitània [uksiˈtaniə] ) is

2772-613: The Judeo-Occitan dialects, Judeo-Niçard was spoken by the community of Jews living in Nice , who were descendants of Jewish immigrants from Provence, Piedmont, and other Mediterranean communities. Its existence is attested from a few documents from the 19th century. It contained significant influence in both vocabulary and grammar from Hebrew. All three of these dialects have some influence in Southern Jewish French,

2849-518: The Sovereign Council of Roussillon, independent of the Parlement of Toulouse . Currently, the name Roussillon is still the most widely used to designate this territory, being found in the denomination of the former region of Languedoc-Roussillon . Today, the territory is often subdivided into five unofficial traditional and natural comarques : Roussillon proper, Vallespir , Conflent , Upper Cerdanya and Capcir . A recent addition

2926-500: The border between the kingdom of France and the Principality of Catalonia lay further north, along a line of citadels ( Treaty of Corbeil ). These territories corresponded to the Catalan counties of Roussillon and Conflent , founded in the 9th century, as well as to the northern part of the County of Cerdanya , to which was added the former Vicounty of Castelnou, or Vallespir (the pagus of County of Besalú , united with

3003-452: The cities in southern France is unlikely to hear a single Occitan word spoken on the street (or, for that matter, in a home), and is likely to only find the occasional vestige, such as street signs (and, of those, most will have French equivalents more prominently displayed), to remind them of the traditional language of the area. Occitan speakers, as a result of generations of systematic suppression and humiliation (see Vergonha ), seldom use

3080-574: The county passed to House of Grailly and, in 1458, King Charles VII of France raised it to the Peerage of France in favor of Gaston IV, Count of Foix . The county-peerage passed to the House of Albret in 1484, and then to House of Bourbon-Vendôme in 1548. In 1607, King Henry IV of France attached the county to the Royal French domain . From the time of the French Revolution ,

3157-617: The county was fully incorporated into the department of Ariège . The Occitan dialect traditionally spoken there is Languedocien . The Ancien Régime province of Roussillon , which had formerly been integrated with the Catalan counties , the Kingdom of Majorca , and the Principality of Catalonia within the Crown of Aragon , was attached to the Crown of France under the Treaty of the Pyrenees , signed on 7 November 1659. Prior to this treaty,

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3234-525: The creation of the Parlement of Bordeaux in 1462. From that time, they were generally grouped under the name of Haute-Guyenne , by opposition with Basse-Guyenne , which was dependent on the Parlement of Bordeaux. The territory of the former province of Guyenne (Guiana) that lies within the region corresponds with Quercy (the current department of Lot and the north of Tarn e Garona ), and with Roergue ( Avairon ). These two counties are thus part of

3311-436: The current departments of Gers ( Armanhac and Condomois ), Hautes-Pyrénées ( Bigorre ), Lanas in the neighboring region, and parts of other departments of the two regions of Aquitània and Midi-Pyrénées ( Comenge , Nebosan and Rivière-Verdun mainly in the south and west of Haute-Garonne , and Couserans in the western part of Ariège ). Successively called Aquitania , Novempopulania , Vasconia (territory of

3388-490: The early 12th century to the coastal fringe extending from San Sebastian to the river Bidasoa , where they settled down. The language variant they used was different from the ones in Navarre, i.e. a Béarnese dialect of Gascon. Gascon remained in use in this area far longer than in Navarre and Aragon, until the 19th century, thanks mainly to the fact that Donostia and Pasaia maintained close ties with Bayonne . Though it

3465-482: The eastern part of Tolosa (Toulouse), retained under the Treaty of Brétigny . At that time, the County of Foix , which belonged to the seneschal of Carcassona until 1333 before passing to Toulouse, ceased to belong to Languedoc. In 1542, the province was divided into two généralités : Toulouse for Haut-Languedoc, and Montpellier for Bas-Languedoc. This lasted until the French Revolution in 1789. From

3542-921: The end of the 11th century, the Franks , as they were called at the time, started to penetrate the Iberian Peninsula through the Ways of St. James via Somport and Roncesvalles , settling in various locations in the Kingdoms of Navarre and Aragon enticed by the privileges granted them by the Navarrese kings . They settled in large groups, forming ethnic boroughs where Occitan was used for everyday life, in Pamplona , Sangüesa , and Estella-Lizarra , among others. These boroughs in Navarre may have been close-knit communities that tended not to assimilate with

3619-401: The first time in 1346, shrank progressively, becoming known during the Ancien Régime as the province of Languedoc . The year 1359 marked a turning point in the history of the province. The three bailiwicks ( sénéchaussées ) of Bèucaire , Carcassona and Tolosa had the status of bonnes villes (towns granted privileges and protection by the king of France in return for providing

3696-534: The geographical territory in which Occitan is spoken is surrounded by regions in which other Romance languages are used, external influences may have influenced its origin and development. Many factors favored its development as its own language. Catalan in Spain's northern and central Mediterranean coastal regions and the Balearic Islands is closely related to Occitan, sharing many linguistic features and

3773-476: The language at the beginning of the 13th century by Catalan troubadour Raimon Vidal de Besalú(n) in his Razós de trobar : La parladura Francesca val mais et [es] plus avinenz a far romanz e pasturellas; mas cella de Lemozin val mais per far vers et cansons et serventés; et per totas las terras de nostre lengage son de major autoritat li cantar de la lenga Lemosina que de negun'autra parladura, per qu'ieu vos en parlarai primeramen. The French language

3850-460: The language in the presence of strangers, whether they are from abroad or from outside Occitania (in this case, often merely and abusively referred to as Parisiens or Nordistes , which means northerners ). Occitan is still spoken by many elderly people in rural areas, but they generally switch to French when dealing with outsiders. Occitan's decline is somewhat less pronounced in Béarn because of

3927-422: The language. Following the pattern of language shift , most of this remainder is to be found among the eldest populations. Occitan activists (called Occitanists ) have attempted, in particular with the advent of Occitan-language preschools (the Calandretas ), to reintroduce the language to the young. Nonetheless, the number of proficient speakers of Occitan is thought to be dropping precipitously. A tourist in

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4004-408: The larger collection of dialects grouped under the name langues d'oïl ) should be used for all French administration. Occitan's greatest decline occurred during the French Revolution , in which diversity of language was considered a threat. In 1903, the four Gospels ( "Lis Evangèli" , i.e. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) were translated into Provençal as spoken in Cannes and Grasse. The translation

4081-406: The last speakers being elderly Jews in Bayonne . About 850 unique words and a few morphological and grammatical aspects of the dialect were transmitted to Southern Jewish French. Judeo-Provençal was a dialect of Occitan spoken by Jews in Provence . The dialect declined in usage after Jews were expelled from the area in 1498, and was probably extinct by the 20th century. The least attested of

4158-772: The latter term for the language as a whole. Many non-specialists, however, continue to refer to the language as Provençal . One of the oldest written fragments of the language found dates back to 960, shown here in italics mixed with non-italicized Latin: De ista hora in antea non decebrà Ermengaus filius Eldiarda Froterio episcopo filio Girberga ne Raimundo filio Bernardo vicecomite de castello de Cornone ... no·l li tolrà ni no·l li devedarà ni no l'en decebrà  ... nec societatem non aurà , si per castellum recuperare non o fa , et si recuperare potuerit in potestate Froterio et Raimundo lo tornarà , per ipsas horas quæ Froterius et Raimundus l'en comonrà . Carolingian litanies ( c.  780 ), though

4235-440: The leader sang in Latin , were answered to in Old Occitan by the people ( Ora pro nos ; Tu lo juva ). Other famous pieces include the Boecis , a 258-line-long poem written entirely in the Limousin dialect of Occitan between the year 1000 and 1030 and inspired by Boethius 's The Consolation of Philosophy ; the Waldensian La nobla leyczon (dated 1100), Cançó de Santa Fe ( c.  1054 –1076),

4312-418: The medieval duchies of Vasconia , Aquitaine and then Guyenne . Today, only the eastern regions of the two provinces are part of Occitania. These areas correspond essentially to the territories acquired by the kings of England , dukes of Guyenne, under the treaty of Brétigny of 1360, and which then remained under the jurisdiction of the provincial appellate court of Toulouse ( Parlement of Toulouse ) after

4389-415: The modern Occitan-speaking area. After Frédéric Mistral 's Félibrige movement in the 19th century, Provençal achieved the greatest literary recognition and so became the most popular term for Occitan. According to Joseph Anglade , a philologist and specialist of medieval literature who helped impose the then archaic term Occitan as the standard name, the word Lemosin was first used to designate

4466-422: The negative sense: for example, "Vous n'avez pas de frères?" "Si, j'en ai sept." ("You have no brothers?" "But yes, I have seven."). The name "Occitan" was attested around 1300 as occitanus , a crossing of oc and aquitanus ( Aquitanian ). For many centuries, the Occitan dialects (together with Catalan ) were referred to as Limousin or Provençal , after the names of two regions lying within

4543-445: The new region's provisional name, the hyphenated names of its predecessors: Languedoc-Roussillon and Midi-Pyrénées , in alphabetical order. As for most of the merged regions, a permanent name was then proposed by the new regional council to replace that provisional name. On 24 June 2016, the Regional Council of Languedoc-Roussillon-Midi-Pyrénées adopted the name Occitania after lengthy public consultation. The provisional name of

4620-488: The officially preferred language for use in the Val d'Aran. Across history, the terms Limousin ( Lemosin ), Languedocien ( Lengadocian ), Gascon , in addition to Provençal ( Provençal , Provençau or Prouvençau ) later have been used as synonyms for the whole of Occitan; nowadays, the term "Provençal" is understood mainly as the Occitan dialect spoken in Provence , in southeast France. Unlike other Romance languages such as French or Spanish , Occitan does not have

4697-424: The other. Nonetheless, specialists commonly divide Occitan into six main dialects: The northern and easternmost dialects have more morphological and phonetic features in common with the Gallo-Italic and Oïl languages (e.g. nasal vowels ; loss of final consonants; initial cha/ja- instead of ca/ga- ; uvular ⟨r⟩ ; the front-rounded sound /ø/ instead of a diphthong, /w/ instead of /l/ before

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4774-431: The predominantly Basque -speaking general population. Their language became the status language chosen by the Navarrese kings, nobility, and upper classes for official and trade purposes in the period stretching from the early 13th century to the late 14th century. Written administrative records were in a koiné based on the Languedocien dialect from Toulouse with fairly archaic linguistic features. Evidence survives of

4851-555: The province's history (a late addition to the Kingdom of France), though even there the language is little spoken outside the homes of the rural elderly. The village of Artix is notable for having elected to post street signs in the local language. The area where Occitan was historically dominant has approximately 16 million inhabitants. Recent research has shown it may be spoken as a first language by approximately 789,000 people in France , Italy , Spain and Monaco . In Monaco, Occitan coexists with Monégasque Ligurian , which

4928-408: The region (or Catalans of the North , as they mostly call themselves) expressed dismay at the regional assembly resolution, regarding the new name as ignoring their presence. On 10 September 2016, some 10,000 people (7,800 according to the police) demonstrated in Perpignan , demanding that the merged region name contain the words Pays catalan (literal translation: "Catalan country"). Occitania

5005-466: The region of Provence , historically was used for Occitan as a whole, for "in the eleventh, the twelfth, and sometimes also the thirteenth centuries, one would understand under the name of Provence the whole territory of the old Provincia romana Gallia Narbonensis and even Aquitaine ". The term first came into fashion in Italy . Currently, linguists use the terms Provençal and Limousin strictly to refer to specific varieties within Occitan, using

5082-404: The region was withdrawn on 30 September 2016, when the new name took effect. Occitania, the new name, derives from the historical appellation of the broader region, and refers to the historical use throughout that territory of the Occitan language and its various dialects, which are so named for the word òc , the Occitan word for oui or "yes". The circa 450,000 French Catalans living in

5159-431: The south. The largest communes of Occitania are (population as of 2017 ): The gross domestic product (GDP) of the region was 171.2 billion euros in 2018, accounting for 7.3% of French economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 26,000 euros or 86% of the EU27 average in the same year. The GDP per employee was 102% of the EU average. Following the creation of the region in 2016, Carole Delga ,

5236-503: The southern third of France. The region of Occitania as it is today covers a territory similar to that ruled by the Counts of Toulouse in the 12th and 13th centuries. The banner of arms of the Counts of Toulouse, known colloquially as the Occitan cross , is used by the modern region and is also a popular cultural symbol. In 2021, Occitania had a population of 6,022,176. Enacted in 2014, the territorial reform of French regions had been subject to debate for many years. The reform law used as

5313-450: The southernmost administrative region of metropolitan France excluding Corsica , created on 1 January 2016 from the former regions of Languedoc-Roussillon and Midi-Pyrénées . The Council of State approved Occitania as the new name of the region on 28 September 2016, coming into effect on 30 September 2016. The modern administrative region is named after the larger cultural and historical region of Occitania , which corresponds with

5390-525: The term would have been in use orally for some time after the decline of Latin, as far as historical records show, the Italian medieval poet Dante was the first to have recorded the term lingua d'oc in writing. In his De vulgari eloquentia , he wrote in Latin, "nam alii oc, alii si, alii vero dicunt oil" ("for some say òc , others sì , yet others say oïl "), thereby highlighting three major Romance literary languages that were well known in Italy, based on each language's word for "yes",

5467-425: The time of their attachment to France. Roussillon was subject to direct taxation as a pays d'imposition (taxing country) and did not have representation through the Estates (a provincial assembly, the provincial assembly of Roussillon, was created on 15 August 1787). It formed both a government and an intendance and reported to the Secretary of State for War as a border province. It had sovereign jurisdiction:

5544-730: The use of flint . By roughly 3500 BC, the Chasséen culture in France gave way to the late Neolithic transitional Seine-Oise-Marne culture (3100BC - 2000 BC) in Northern France and to a series of archaeological cultures in Southern France . An article published in 2020 provided the genetic results of several individuals buried in the Le Crès site (Béziers), ZAC Agora site (Cugnaux), and La Terrasse site (Villeneuve-Tolosane), three males had Y-chromosome haplogroup I2a1a2, where other three males had I1a2b4~, I2 and I2a1b1a2b1a2a2b1b1. From

5621-410: Was definitely reunited with the Crown in 1472; Roergue , possession of the counts of Armagnac, did not follow until 1607. Both came within the province of Guyenne, under military rule from 1561. Together, they became the généralité of Montauban from 1635, which then became the province of Haute-Guyenne in 1779. Today, the name Guyenne no longer has administrative or political currency, although

5698-444: Was done], etc.", such as Spanish sí , Eastern Lombard sé , Italian sì , or Portuguese sim . In modern Catalan, as in modern Spanish, sí is usually used as a response, although the language retains the word oi , akin to òc , which is sometimes used at the end of yes–no questions and also in higher register as a positive response. French uses si to answer "yes" in response to questions that are asked in

5775-484: Was given the official Roman Catholic Imprimatur by vicar general A. Estellon. The literary renaissance of the late 19th century (in which the 1904 Nobel Prize in Literature winner, Frédéric Mistral, among others, was involved) was attenuated by World War I , when (in addition to the disruption caused by any major war) many Occitan speakers spent extended periods of time alongside French-speaking comrades. Because

5852-543: Was still an everyday language for most of the rural population of southern France well into the 20th century, it is now spoken by about 100,000 people in France according to 2012 estimates. There is a movement in regions of France where Occitan was widely spoken to introduce educational programs to encourage young people in these regions to learn the language. According to the 1999 census, there were 610,000 native speakers (almost all of whom were also native French speakers) and perhaps another million people with some exposure to

5929-521: Was the maternal language of the English queen Eleanor of Aquitaine and kings Richard I (who wrote troubadour poetry) and John . With the gradual imposition of French royal power over its territory, Occitan declined in status from the 14th century on. The Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts (1539) decreed that the langue d'oïl (French – though at the time referring to the Francien language and not

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