83-546: Cantal ( French pronunciation: [kɑ̃tal] ; Occitan : Cantal or Cantau ) is a rural department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France, with its prefecture in Aurillac . Its other principal towns are Saint-Flour (the episcopal see ) and Mauriac ; its residents are known as Cantalians (French: Cantaliens / Cantaliennes or Cantalous / Cantaloues ). Cantal borders
166-457: A warm-summer humid continental climate (Dfb) under the Köppen system . In spite of this, the city enjoys more than 2,100 hours of sunshine per year on average, but also a high amount of precipitations per year on average. The record low temperature was −24.5 °C (−12 °F) on 9 January 1985 and the record high was 38.0 °C (100 °F) on 30 July 1983. The origin of the name Aurillac
249-553: 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
332-643: 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
415-510: A dialect of French spoken by Jews in southern France. Southern Jewish French is now estimated to only be spoken by about 50–100 people. Domergue Sumien proposes a slightly different supradialectal grouping. Aurillac Aurillac ( French pronunciation: [oʁijak] ; Occitan : Orlhac [uɾˈʎak] ) is the prefecture of the Cantal department , in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France . Aurillac
498-746: 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
581-540: 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
664-542: 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
747-476: 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
830-415: A very large number of buildings and structures that are registered as historical monuments. There are also a very large number of items which are registered as historical objects in various locations. Some of the most interesting sites are: The commune has several religious buildings and structures that are registered as historical monuments: Aurillac has several dance centres: In 2011 Aurillac hosted
913-625: 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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#1732781124479996-410: 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
1079-631: 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
1162-464: 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
1245-476: Is accessible to hikers. It is also possible to hike to the nearby Puy de Peyre-Arse (1806 m). Le Lioran or Super-Lioran are the best places to start the hike. Le Lioran is accessible by rail or bus and Super-Lioran is just a kilometre away from Le Lioran . From Super-Lioran it is also possible to hike to Plomb du Cantal. There is also an option of taking the cable car to Plomb du Cantal from Super-Lioran. Super-Lioran tourist office has various hike routes in
1328-838: Is an old stronghold of the French Right and was the electoral base of the late Georges Pompidou . Only the area around Aurillac , historically anti-clerical and Radical , has some left-wing support. The current president of the departmental council is Bruno Faure ( The Republicans ). Paul Doumer , French president from May 1931 to May 1932, was born in Aurillac in this department. Attribution: 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 ,
1411-583: Is at 600 m (2,000 ft) above sea level and located at the foot of the Cantal mountains in a small sedimentary basin . The city is built on the banks of the Jordanne, a tributary of the Cère . It is 558 km (347 mi) south of Paris and 223 km (139 mi) north of Toulouse . Aurillac was part of a former Auvergne province called Haute-Auvergne and is only 20 km (12 mi) away from
1494-565: Is best known for its Cheese centre based on the heights of Aurillac close to the Chateau Saint-Étienne. It was established in 1993, the structure consists of an association bringing together many organisations to develop scientific programs. It develops scientific programs relating to the cheese sector. Aurillac hosts several websites: Aurillac has also been the headquarters of the ERP vendor Qualiac since 1979. The commune has
1577-517: Is from Aureliacum meaning "Villa of Aurelius" and dates back to the Gallo-Roman era. It is attested in the polygonal Fanum d'Aron which was built in the 1st century and discovered in 1977 at Lescudillier. It is thought that in the Gallic era the original site of the city was on the heights overlooking the current city at Saint-Jean-de-Dône ("Dône" from dunum ) and, like most oppida , it
1660-415: Is given over to pasture for Aubrac and Salers cattle, sheep, and, formerly, horses. This in turn supports a dairy industry responsible for butter and Roquefort cheese and the appellation-controlled cheeses Cantal , Salers , and Bleu d'Auvergne . Cantal is the French department with the greatest number of appellation-controlled cheeses, although proper Roquefort is now restricted to cheese produced in
1743-586: Is the Plomb du Cantal , which reaches an elevation of 1,858 meters (6,096 ft). Its neighbors are Puy Mary (elev. 1,787 meters or 5,863 feet) and Puy Chavaroche (elev. 5,722 feet or 1,744 meters). To their north lie the Cézallier and Dore ranges and the arid Artense Plateau. Immediately to their east is the fertile Planèze Plateau, bound on its east by the Monts de la Margeride . The principal rivers are
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#17327811244791826-413: 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
1909-455: Is wide and airy and a feature of military architecture of the time. It is now known as the Zone of Peace and is now converted into a parking lot leaving a clear view of the 3 buildings that surround it. The entrance to the barracks was destroyed and replaced by a modern building. It houses administrative services, treasury, CABA, Mortgages, Cadastre etc. In the 1950s the old military buildings became
1992-467: 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
2075-527: 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
2158-640: 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
2241-774: The Alagnon , which is a tributary to the Allier ; the Celle and Truyère , tributary to the Lot ; and the Cère and Rhue , tributary to the Dordogne . At an elevation of 250 meters (820 ft) above sea level, the low point of the province lies in the Lot valley . The Truyère valley skirts the Planèze on the south and divides it from the Monts d'Aubrac , whose foothills include the thermal springs of Chaudes-Aigues . The western area of
2324-535: The Aveyron department. The region's mineral products include coal, copper, lead, iron, antimony , granite , slate and lime , but the department's isolation and poor infrastructure long precluded their exploitation. Before the First World War , the primary exports were livestock, cheese, butter, and coal and the main imports were coal, wine, grain, flour, and pottery. By then, it had been connected to both
2407-653: The French Revolution on 4 March 1790. Prior to the First World War , it comprised parts of the XIII. Army Corps military region and the Clermont-Ferrand educational division ( académie ). After the 1790 Constitution Civile du Clergé , the Diocese of Saint-Flour in Cantal (whose bishop refused to swear the republican oath of allegiance, constituting a schism from Rome) was among the almost half of
2490-595: 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
2573-553: The Orleans and Midi railways . Traditionally, many Cantalians roamed France during the year plying humble trades but now the area's relative lack of industry and development permits tourism. An area has been set aside as the Auvergne Volcanos Regional Park ( Parc Regional des Volcans d’Auvergne ). The Occitan language was historically spoken in Cantal. The official population count for 2019
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2656-468: 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
2739-582: 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
2822-551: The "Cité Administrative". The clock building is called so because of the great clock that adorns this building. It is also commonly called the House of unions and associations . Originally these buildings were the former Convent of the Visitation, built in 1682. The Convent was converted into a barracks for infantry in 1792 and occupied half of the buildings until 1922, hence the transformation of buildings to equestrian use. Today
2905-707: The 19th century, the hills and valleys abounded with game and the streams with fish, the countryside producing a "vast variety" of aromatic and medicinal plants. At present, the most visited places are Puy Mary , the Plomb du Cantal, the village of Salers , and the gorges of the Truyère (with the Garabit viaduct , the castle of Alleuze , and the towns of Boisset , Pierrefort ). The Parc Naturel des Volcans d’Auvergne features several inactive volcanoes. Cantal also has numerous castles. Puy Mary can be accessed by car easily. and
2988-479: The 30 cities included on its maps, Aurillac is by far the one with the highest altitude, at 640 m (2,100 ft) above sea level. The most populous commune is Aurillac , the prefecture. As of 2019, there are 5 communes with more than 3,000 inhabitants: The area of Cantal was historically part of the Haute-Auvergne ( Haute-Auvergne ). Cantal is one of the original 83 departments created during
3071-539: The Abbey was sacked. The library and archives were all burned. Before the French Revolution Aurillac had a Présidial and carried the title of capital of the Haute-Auvergne . In 1790 on the creation of departments, after a period of alternating with Saint-Flour , Aurillac definitively became the capital of Cantal . The arrival of the railway in 1866 accelerated the development of the city. At
3154-647: The Air France subsidiary HOP! . The commune was awarded three flowers by the National Council of Towns and Villages in Bloom in the Competition of cities and villages in Bloom. The Jordanne river flows through the heart of the commune from north to south where it joins the Cère just south of the commune. Influenced by its altitude, Aurillac features an oceanic climate (Cfb), closely bordering on
3237-547: The French sees being abolished to realign the new bishoprics to coincide with the new departments, such as Cantal, where outsider parish priest Anne-Alexandre-Marie Thibault was elected Bishop. It was formally abolished in turn after the Napoleonic Concordat of 1801 (Thibault refusing to resign), in favor of the reinstated bishopric of Saint Poul, but actually retained the departemental borders. The climate being generally too cool and damp for grain, much of Cantal
3320-613: 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,
3403-578: The Peace of Aurillac, relations were normalised. In the 13th and 14th centuries Aurillac withstood several sieges by the English and in the 16th century continued to suffer from civil and religious wars. The influence of the abbey declined with its secularization and its implementation of orders. In 1569 the city was delivered by treason to the Protestants : people were tortured and held to ransom and
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3486-738: The Pierre-Mendès-France Cultural Centre occupies the premises including the Museum of Art and Archaeology, the County Conservatory of Music and Dance, the youth service activities of the town of Aurillac, and a crèche for children. The Stables were then used by the national stud established by Napoleon in 1806; a depot of stallions was created in Aurillac. At the Battle of Austerlitz Napoleon rode Cantal ,
3569-525: The Romanesque religious buildings like the churches of Cheylade (eleventh century), Dieno or Massiac. The area's Catholic cathedral—dependent on the archdiocese of Bourges —is the 15th-century St Pierre de St-Flour, erected in the Gothic style . The characteristic folk dance in Cantal is La Bourrée . In the countryside it would be danced in folk costumes with accompaniment by accordion. The dance form
3652-543: The abbey. The first urban area was circular and built close to the Abbey of Aurillac . Gerald died around 910 but his influence was such that over the centuries Gerald was always a baptismal name prevalent in the population of Aurillac and the surrounding area. It was in the 13th century that municipal conflict began between consuls and abbots. After taking the Chateau of Saint-Étienne in 1255 and two negotiated agreements called
3735-456: The centre of town, lies on the Figeac -Arvant railway. It has rail connections to Clermont-Ferrand, Brive-la-Gaillarde and Toulouse. About 50% of the commune is urbanised with farmland to the east and west of the urban area. Aurillac – Tronquières Airport is located in the south of the commune with its runway extending beyond the commune boundary. It is connected to Paris by two daily flights by
3818-452: 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
3901-685: The commune are known as Aurillacois or Aurillacoises in French. Aurillac has hundreds of boutiques, shops, and artisans. Also found in Aurillac are different players in various food fields (e.g. the Couderc distillery with its famous gentian liqueur and famous establishments such as the Leroux and Bonal cheese factories, the Morin refinery, MAS charcuteries , Teil cured by the Altitude group, refrigerated transport operator Olano Ladoux etc.). Aurillac
3984-436: The country's 98th most populated department. Of the 96 metropolitan departments, it is the fifth least populated. The department is named for the Plomb du Cantal , the central peak of the bare and rugged mounts of Cantal (French: Monts du Cantal ) mountain chain which traverses the area. Cantal lies in the middle of France's central plateau. The Cantal range is a group of extinct and eroded volcanic peaks. Its highest point
4067-506: The department consists of grassy plateaus and river valleys. At first, Cantal was divided into four arrondissements — Aurillac , Mauriac , Saint-Flour and Murat (later merged with Saint-Flour). The climate of the department varies considerably. Prevailing winds and mountain ranges divide Cantal into four climatic zones: Generally, the weather is mild and dry in the alluvial plain between Murat and Saint-Flour and around Aurillac, while summer storms and winters can be long and severe in
4150-465: The departments of Puy-de-Dôme , Haute-Loire , Aveyron , Lot , Lozère and Corrèze , in the Massif Central natural region. Along with neighbouring Lozère and Creuse , Cantal is among the most sparsely populated and geographically isolated departments of France and Aurillac is the departmental capital farthest removed from a major motorway. It had a population of 144,692 in 2019, making it
4233-490: 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
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#17327811244794316-921: 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
4399-628: The first census in 1759 there were 6,268 people in Aurillac, it now has about 28,000. Blazon: Gules, three escallops of Argent 2 and 1, in chief Azure, three fleurs-de-lis of Or. Blazon: Party per pale, Or and Vert, the border engrailed of one on the other. Aurillac is the capital of the department of Cantal (seat of the prefecture ) and of the Arrondissement of Aurillac as well as for three cantons (INSEE names): List of Successive Mayors Aurillac has twinning associations with: The inhabitants of
4482-534: 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
4565-400: The heart of the Auvergne Volcano Park. Access to the commune is by numerous roads including the D922 from Naucelles in the north, the D17 from Saint-Simon in the north-east, Route nationale N122 from Polminhac in the east which continues to Sansac-de-Marmiesse in the south-west, the D920 to Arpajon-sur-Cère in the south-east, and the D18 to Ytrac in the west. Aurillac station , in
4648-476: 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
4731-409: 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
4814-422: 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
4897-408: 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
4980-406: 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
5063-772: 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
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#17327811244795146-440: 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),
5229-415: 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
5312-422: 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
5395-470: The northern and central areas. The west—nearer precipitation coming in from the Atlantic —is well watered. There is abundant snowfall which can remain up to six months on the mountaintops. Winter temperatures can fall to below −15 °C (5 °F), whereas in summer 25 °C (77 °F) is often reached. The southern part of the department, on its borders with Aveyron and Lot , is the hottest region. Aurillac averaged 2080 hours of sunlight per year over
5478-488: 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
5561-424: 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
5644-404: The period from 1991 to 2000. Fog is rare and disappears quickly. Wind is usually not very strong, but the lightning flashes in this department are among the most spectacular in France. Televised French weather forecasts often note Aurillac as the coldest city in France in the mornings. This status should be understood in light of their derivation from temperature readings by Météo-France . Of
5727-508: The practice of free flight: base jumpers frequent the sector around the Puy Mary and the Brezon valley. Thanks to its terrain, Cantal can count on a good snow level, which allows winter sports. The station of Le Lioran , largest ski-resort of the Massif Central offers alpine skiing (with specific adaptations for snowboard) and ice-skating. Excursions in snow shoes are also possible. The department has several hundred kilometres of cross-country skiing tracks. This staunchly Catholic department
5810-431: 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
5893-555: 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
5976-517: 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
6059-542: The region. There are also various adventure courses, dirt bikes, summer luges etc. that run in Super-Lioran. Among the various activities offered in this department, the "Massif Cantalien" can be discovered through walking, horseback riding or mountain biking excursions (tracks are especially designed for this). Aquatic sports are also common, due to numerous lakes. The department also offers activities such as mountaineering, canoeing and fishing. The landscape also allows
6142-790: The start of the Tour de France in the 10th stage. Two military units are garrisoned in Aurillac: Aurillac has long been a garrison town with the 139th Infantry Regiment, who are noted for their feats during the Battle of the Somme . They have a remarkable chronology and a cabinet of trophies were displayed in the Hall of Honour of the Departmental Military Delegation who have since moved, forgetting to preserve and safeguard this part of history. The military square
6225-632: 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",
6308-415: The year of the birth of Count Gerald of Aurillac at the castle where his father, also named Gerald, was lord. In 885 he founded a Benedictine monastery which later bore his name. It was in this monastery that Gerbert, the first French pope under the name of Sylvester II , studied. The city was made in a Sauveté area which was located between four crosses and was founded in 898 by Gerald shortly after
6391-584: Was 144,692. It peaked at 262,117 in 1836, and has been below 200,000 since the First World War. Like many of the country's rural departments, Cantal experienced a marked decrease in population throughout the twentieth century as agricultural wages failed to keep pace with those available in the industrialising regions. The department falls within the band of low-density population known as the empty diagonal . Population development since 1791: The department counts several remarkable buildings. Among them,
6474-524: Was abandoned after the Roman conquest in favour of a new city established on the plain. With the return of instability in the Lower Roman Empire there was a movement towards Encastellation and a new fortified site was established in mid-slope between the former oppidum and the old Gallo-Roman city where the Chateau of Saint-Étienne is today. The history of the city is really only known from 856,
6557-444: 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
6640-484: 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
6723-470: Was long ago adapted for use in courtly music and features prominently in the Baroque dance suites of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Prominent museums in Cantal include: The traditional articles of Cantalian cuisine were rye, buckwheat, and chestnuts, as well as ham, cheese, and vegetables. The area's simple recipes were designed to satisfy hill farmers and herders. Notable dishes include: In
6806-543: 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
6889-466: 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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