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97-471: Mercadier (died 10 April 1200) was a famous Occitan warrior of the 12th century, and the leader of a group of mercenaries in the service of King Richard I of England . In 1183 he appears as a leader of Brabançon mercenaries in Southern France. He entered King Richard's service in 1184, attacking and laying waste to lands of Aimar V of Limoges . In 1188 he managed seventeen castles captured from

194-525: A doublet of the word Occident formed in the Lower Empire , giving it the original meaning of "western regions", and not a region where (necessarily) the Occitan language was spoken. Like the Occitan language, Occitania has been designated under various successive names. The terms are not exclusive: one can find authors who use different terms in the same time period. Occitania or Pays d'Oc are

291-541: A collection of laws of the ancien régime , it only becomes current at 19th century. Thus, the duke of Angoulême conspired with a view to the establishment of a Kingdom of Occitania or of a Vice-Royalty of Occitania at the time of the Restoration. The term was popularized by the publications of Raynouard and Rochegude , and known in its contemporary sense by the English historian Sharon Turner . It appeared in

388-498: 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

485-643: 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

582-650: A contiguous and compact Occitan-speaking territory is currently the most widespread. Northern Italy and the Catalan Countries were also homes of troubadour using the Koiné Occitan literary. In the same way, the Basque Country and Aragon benefited from Occitan stands , old or newer, which notably gave rise to the appearance of an Occitan dialect south of the Pyrenees. We can also note

679-608: 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. Occitania Occitania has been recognized as a linguistic and cultural concept since the Middle Ages . The territory was united in Roman times as the Seven Provinces ( Latin : Septem Provinciae ) and in

776-645: A major antagonist. He is portrayed as a ruthless killer and mercenary leader with few or no redeeming qualities, and as the main perpetrator of English atrocities during the 3rd Crusade and King Richard's wars against the French. 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 ,

873-746: 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

970-540: 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

1067-542: 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

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1164-719: A southern third of France (commonly known as Midi , including Monaco ), the Occitan Valleys and Guardia Piemontese , in Italy , as well as the Val d'Aran , in Spain . The practice of Occitan is not the same uniformly throughout the territory. In addition, there is a linguistic transition area in the north called Croissant where the terms of d'oil and Occitan interfere strongly (see Croissant ). Instead, some territories are not generally considered to be part of Occitania according to

1261-476: 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

1358-625: 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

1455-410: 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

1552-631: 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

1649-411: 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

1746-677: Is a small part of Occitania. The extent of Occitania may vary according to the criteria used: On the other hand one always speaks Occitan in the French Basque Country and in the Catalan Countries (the Val d'Aran and the Fenolheda ), and internal allophone enclaves (Petite Gavacharie of Poitevin-Saintongeais language, ancient Ligurian enclaves of eastern Provence, the quasi-Ligurian-Occitan enclave of Monaco ...). This leads to variations in whether small internal or external enclaves are taken into account. The definition of

1843-608: Is defined by language for 95% of people, culture (94%), characterization by a common history (69%), an ethnic group (50%), a nation (20%). Occitania, as defined by the modern Occitan linguistic territory, covers most of the current Southern France , the Alpine valleys of the Western Piedmont , in Italy , Val d'Aran in Spain and Monaco an area of approximately 190,000 km2. It had about fifteen million inhabitants in 1999 with about 20% inhabitants born outside

1940-415: Is not a monolithic language with for example a single dictionary where each speaker finds exactly their vocabulary, but a juxtaposition of dialects. Also, many studies have focused on the differences between Provençal, Languedoc, etc. We must also remember the many common features of the Occitan cultural space , which are generally considered partisans. Robert Lafont develops this idea in the introduction of

2037-452: Is obvious is his general inscription in the Occitan family[...] that loves vertical structures, the state or the church." Finally, for André Armengaud, these common social characteristics make it possible to write a historical synthesis. But since 1979, no other "History of Occitan" has been undertaken. If the term Occitania appeared in French from the mid-16th century, then in 1732 in

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2134-537: Is probably an imitation of the name [Aqu] itania (Aquitaine). The term Occitania is a synonym for Languedoc and the Mediterranean coast in the Middle Ages. The first attestation of the use of Occitanie in French dates from 1556. The first certificate of Occitania in Italy dates 1549. In German , the word Occitania was found in 1572. All of the Occitan language countries have had various designations throughout history. The word Occitania has been

2231-765: Is that of Roman Law which is better maintained in the Occitan Early Middle Ages society than in Northern France thanks to the promulgations of Visigoth and Burgundians laws. From the mid-11th century, the teaching of the Corpus Juris Civilis taken shortly after Bologna in the universities of Toulouse, Montpellier, Avignon, Perpignan... will promote a massive renaissance of Roman Law in Occitania. With regard to education: Pierre Goubert and Daniel Roche write, to explain

2328-413: 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

2425-697: Is used particularly in a historical sense and anthropological by designating a region extending north to the Loire , ignoring contemporary linguistic boundaries. In a book written by experts in medieval history, are included in Occitania of the year 1000 both the provinces of the north (now mainly in Poitou-Charentes) and Catalonia (without the Balearic Islands and the Valencian country) – p. 484 . The seven-pointed star , adopted as emblem by

2522-467: 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

2619-527: 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

2716-640: 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

2813-649: The Treasury of Felibritge and in the statutes of this organization in 1911. In the Interwar period , a Felibritgan school, the Escòla Occitana was created in 1919 in the Toulousean Languedoc. The Institute of Occitan Studies was born in 1930. These initiatives (as well as others) remain closely linked, notably because of the dual membership of their main animators at Felibritge . After

2910-521: The Ardèche , the southern Isère and some fringes of the Loire ) and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur . In the Centre-Val de Loire Occitan is spoken in some communes in southern Cher and Indre. Occitanie Maps The geographical delimitation of Occitania most commonly accepted was specified between 1876—beginning of research on the linguistic boundaries —and the 20th century. Occitania roughly covers

3007-600: The Early Middle Ages ( Aquitanica or the Visigothic Kingdom of Toulouse , or the share of Louis the Pious following Thionville divisio regnorum in 806 ). Currently, the region has a population of 16 million, and between 200,000 and 800,000 people are either native or proficient speakers of Occitan. More commonly, French , Piedmontese , Catalan , Spanish and Italian are spoken. Since 2006,

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3104-458: The Felibritge symbolized the seven provinces of Occitania, one of which was Catalan. Occitanie is indeed divided by this association into seven maintenances (sections) of which one was that of Catalonia-Roussillon. In 2016, the name Occitanie is used for the French administrative region Languedoc-Roussillon-Midi-Pyrénées which is located on part of the traditional Occitania and includes

3201-470: The Frankish Empire , Occitania was split into different counties , duchies and kingdoms , bishops and abbots . Since then, the country has never been politically united, although Occitania remained intact through a common culture. Nonetheless, Occitania suffered a tangle of varying loyalties to nominal sovereigns: from the 9th to the 13th centuries, the dukes of Aquitaine , the counts of Foix ,

3298-547: 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

3395-577: The Holy Land , Mercadier accompanied him everywhere as his right hand man, travelling and fighting by his side. Richard eulogized Mercadier's exploits in his letters, and gave him the estates left by Ademar de Bainac in Limousin , who died without heirs around 1190. During the various wars between Richard and Philip, Mercadier fought successively in Berry , Normandy , Flanders and Brittany . When Richard

3492-519: The Occitan language has been an official language in Catalonia , which includes the Aran Valley , where Occitan gained official status in 1990. At the time of the Roman empire, most of Occitania was known as Aquitania . The territories conquered early were known as Provincia Romana (see modern Provence ), while the northern provinces of what is now France were called Gallia ( Gaul ). Under

3589-557: The Papacy in the beginning of the 13th century. The great defeat resulting from the Battle of Muret (1213) and the subsequent Treaty of Corbeil (1258) ratified the loss of Catalan influence in Occitania and its gradual replacement by the French dynasty of the House of Capet . Regarding to linguistic affinity and closeness, after some early Romance-language scholars considered them to be

3686-558: The Principality of Catalonia nor the Catalan Countries have ever been part of Occitania. On the contrary, from the 11th century the Catalan expansion towards the Occitan regions of Languedoc and Provence (through family ties of feudal nobility) gave rise to a long-term confrontation between the countal dynasties of Barcelona and Toulouse , but finally they had to ally against the Cathar Crusade promoted by France and

3783-651: The Roussillon . Occitania comes from the medieval Latin Occitania . The first part of the name, Occ- , comes from Occitan òc and the expression langue d'oc , in Italian lingua d'oc . It is an appellation promoted by Dante Alighieri of Occitan by the way of saying "yes" in Old Occitan-Catalan ; as opposed to the "langue de si" (Italian) and the "langue d'oïl" (Old French). The ending -itania

3880-711: The Second World War , the creation of the Institute of Occitan Studies was presided over by a resistant (at a time when the Felibritge like the SEO were tainted by lawsuits of collaboration), but above all its action in terms of linguistic reform, particularly its desire to adapt the classical norm to Provençal , marked a break with a large fraction of the Felibritge François Fontan created

3977-468: 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

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4074-582: 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

4171-511: The counts of Toulouse and the Counts of Barcelona competed for control over the various pays of Occitania. Occitan literature flourished during this time period: in the 12th and 13th centuries, the troubadours invented courtly love ( fin'amor ), and the Lenga d'Òc spread throughout European cultivated circles; the terms Lenga d'Òc , Occitan , and Occitania first appeared at the end of

4268-409: The "History and Anthology of Occitan Literature". The reference to troubadours is essential. This socio-linguistic argument is modulated according to the authors but it is accepted by all the current scholarship, including the authors who speak of "domain d'oc", since by definition, their study of the d'oc domain rests on the consciousness of the existence of a common culture. The different speakers of

4365-500: The 13th century. From the 13th to the 17th centuries, the kings of France gradually conquered Occitania. By the end of the 15th century, the nobility and bourgeoisie had started learning French, while the peasantry generally continued to speak Occitan; this process began from the 13th century in the two northernmost regions, northern Limousin and Bourbonnais. In 1539, Francis I issued the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts that imposed

4462-527: The Catalan nation. Occitania includes the following regions: Occitan or langue d'oc ( lenga d'òc ) is a Latin -based Romance language in the same way as Spanish , Italian or French . There are six main regional varieties, with easy inter-comprehension among them: Provençal (including Niçard spoken in the vicinity of Nice ), Vivaroalpenc , Auvernhat , Lemosin , Gascon (including Bearnés spoken in Béarn ) and Lengadocian . All these varieties of

4559-545: The Early Middle Ages, under the Visigothic Kingdom and several Merovingian and Carolingian sovereigns. In the year 805 in Thionville , Charlemagne declared the partition of his empire into three autonomous territories along linguistic and cultural boundaries: what is now modern Occitania was to be formed from the reunion of a broader Provence and Aquitaine. Instead, however, at the 9th century division of

4656-613: 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,

4753-1056: The Occitan language are written and valid. Standard Occitan is a synthesis which respects soft regional adaptations. Catalan is a language very similar to Occitan and there are quite strong historical and cultural links between Occitania and Catalonia . The regions of Ancien Régime that make up Occitania are the following: Auvergne (Auvèrnhe), Forez (west and south fringe), Bourbonnais (southern half), Couserans (Coserans), Dauphiné (southern half), County of Foix (County of Fois), County of Nice (County of Nissa), Périgord (Peiregòrd), Gascony , Guyenne (Guiana), Languedoc (Lengadòc), Angoumois (eastern end), Limousin (Lemosin), Poitou (Poetou) (southeastern extremity), La Marche (la Marcha), Provence (Provença), Comtat Venaissin (lo Comtat Venaicin), Velay , Vivarais (Vivarés). Traditional Occitan Provinces (currently in France): X. Bourbonnais (southern half) – approx. 3,200 km2 (est.) The administrative regions covering Occitania are

4850-473: The administration until the French Revolution of 1789. It was taken up again in the 19th century by the literary association of Felibritge then it is again claimed since the 20th century, especially since the end of the 1960s. According to Frédéric Mistral's dictionary " Treasury of Felibritge ", the term Occitania is sometimes used by scholars to describe Southern France in general but mainly for

4947-452: 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

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5044-534: The city of Angers . On Easter Monday, 10 April 1200, he was assassinated while on a visit to Bordeaux to pay his respects to Eleanor of Aquitaine. His murder was at the hands of six men-at-arms employed by Brandin, a rival mercenary captain in the service of Richard's successor, John . One of the bridges of the Château Gaillard (built by his employer King Richard) is named for him. Five novels "Les aventures de Guilhem d’Ussel" of Jean d'Aillon During

5141-603: The count of Toulouse . Suggestions that he accompanied Richard on the Third Crusade are based on a charter that has been established as a forgery. There is no evidence that Mercadier was with King Philip II of France when the king left the Holy Land for France. Instead, it appear that Mercadier remained in the Angevin realm with his troops to defend Richard's estates in the latter's absence. After Richard's return from

5238-435: 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

5335-586: 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

5432-401: The first overtly Occitan nationalist party in 1959. In France, Occitania has been confronted with a problem of recognition of Occitan since 1992; the French is the only "language of the Republic". In 1994, it was made compulsory in the public space (places of commerce and work, public transport, etc.) and in the administration (laws, regulations, documents, judgments, etc.). In 2015, with

5529-405: The following: Occitanie region (except the Pyrénées-Orientales where a majority speak Catalan , although the Fenouillèdes region, in the North-West of the department, that is to say of Occitan language and culture), Nouvelle-Aquitaine (except the peripheries where one speaks basque , poitevin and saintongeais ), Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (in the southern half, namely almost all the Drôme and

5626-437: The former province of Languedoc. The langue d'oc is a territorialized language, that is to say, spoken mainly on a territory whose boundaries can be described. This part attempts to describe the origins of the Occitanie concept, the different names that this territory has taken and the creation of the modern concept of Occitania. The speakers of the Occitan language do not use a single meaning of their language because Occitan

5723-416: 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

5820-417: The historical use of an Occitan scripta as official language. The name Occitanie appeared in the Middle Ages on the basis of a geographical, linguistic and cultural concept, to designate the part of the French royal domain speaking the langue d’oc. Its current definition is variable. In the most common usage, Occitania designates the territory where the Occitan has remained in use until today, within

5917-476: 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

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6014-409: 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

6111-594: The language share many common traits (tonic accentuation, close vocabulary, frequent use of the subjunctive, etc.) that allow mutual understanding. For Occitanists, this intercomprehension means that Occitan is one language; for others, it means that these languages are very close but all agree that the speakers in this defined space understand each other. The social characteristics of Occitania are not eternal and intangible because factors of endogenous mutations and European influences, especially of Northern France, can blur these social peculiarities. The best studied example

6208-422: 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

6305-408: 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

6402-406: 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

6499-412: The late 13th century. The somewhat uncommon ending of the term Occitania is most likely from a French clerk who joined the òc [ɔk] and Aquitània [ɑkiˈtanjɑ] in a portmanteau term, thus blending the language and the land in just one concept. On 28 September 2016, Occitanie became the name of an administrative region that succeeded the regions of Midi-Pyrénées and Languedoc-Roussillon ; it

6596-403: The late Roman empire, both Aquitania and Provincia Romana were grouped in the Seven Provinces or Viennensis. Provence and Gallia Aquitania (or Aquitanica ) have been in use since medieval times for Occitania (i.e. Limousin , Auvergne , Languedoc and Gascony ). The historic Duchy of Aquitaine should not be confused with the modern French region called Aquitaine : this is a reason why

6693-772: 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

6790-440: 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),

6887-408: The limits defined between 1876 and the 20th century. If Occitan language and culture are almost always associated with it, we also find references to a common history, an ethnic group, a homeland, to a people or to a nation . The first sociological study in the Occitan language to learn how the Occitan define themselves was started in 1976. The survey shows that the Occitan reality

6984-399: The low literacy in Occitania in the 18th century, that there exists in these territories a confidence maintained in the old vulgar languages. The relations to education are today completely reversed between Northern and Southern France thanks to the anthropological imprint of the family strain . From a demographic point of view, the influence of the family was still felt in 2007 because of

7081-415: 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

7178-455: The modern definition: Written texts in Occitan appeared in the 10th century: it was first used in legal texts, and then in literary, scientific, and religious texts. Spoken dialects of Occitan are many centuries older and appeared as soon as the 8th century, at least, as revealed through toponyms and Occitanized words left in Latin manuscripts. Occitania was often politically united during

7275-557: The most frequently used terms today. However the term Provence is still used when the Felibritge sing the Copa Santa for example during the annual festival of Estello . The term "Occitania" now covers a linguistic region. This meaning was used in medieval times attested since 1290. On 29 May 1308, during the Council of Poitiers, it appears that the king of France was declared to reign over two nations: one of lingua gallica and

7372-561: The name of the region, organized by the Regional Council Languedoc-Roussillon-Midi-Pyrénées took place in spring 2016 to give a name to the new region regrouping Midi-Pyrenees and Languedoc-Roussillon . Occitanie came first (44.90% of the vote), with 91,598 voters. Second was Languedoc-Pyrenees with 17.81% of the votes, then Pyrenees-Mediterranean (15.31%), Occitanie-Catalan Country (12.15%) and finally Languedoc (10.01%). This new region

7469-422: 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

7566-592: 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

7663-588: The other of lingua occitana. This partition between Occitan language and langue d'oïl in the Gallo-Roman space is very ancient since it started with Romanisation itself. In 1381, the King Charles VI of France considered that his kingdom comprised two parts: the country of langue d'oc , or Occitania, and the oil-language country or Ouytanie " Quas in nostro Regno occupare solebar tam in linguae Occitanae quam Ouytanae ". "Occitania" remained in force in

7760-484: 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

7857-549: 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

7954-404: The prospect of creating a large region gathering " Midi-Pyrénées " and " Languedoc-Roussillon ", the name "Occitanie" came at the head of an online survey organized by the regional press (23% of the 200,000 voting, in front of "Occitanie-Pays catalan" 20%). Note, however, a variable support rate depending on the geographical origin of the voters. As part of the territorial reform, a consultation on

8051-662: 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

8148-466: 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

8245-619: The reign of Philip August, Guilhem d’Ussel encounters several chiefs of mercenaries : Mercadier, Lambert Cadoc (Lord of Gaillon) and Brandin. Mercadier also made an appearance in Robin and Marian , the 1976 film serving as right hand to Richard the Lionheart. Played by Bill Maynard. Mercardier features prominently in The Outlaw Chronicles series by Angus Donald , especially books 4 ( Warlord ) and 5 ( Grail Knight ), as

8342-424: The same language, Catalan intellectuals (among them Pompeu Fabra and Joan Coromines ) solemnly proclaimed in a 1934 manifesto that Catalan was a distinct language from Occitan, as established by the common consensus of current scientific linguistics. Moreover, the Parliament of Catalonia passed in 2015 a law recognizing Aran Valley 's "national identity", understood as an "Occitan national reality" apart from

8439-415: The small number of families with many children. In politics, many debates have also taken place around the expression Red Southern coined by Maurice Agulhon to find out if the "pays d'oc" was more " republic " than the northern half of France. Emmanuel Todd analyzing the regions that voted for Jean-Luc Mélenchon , calling himself a "Republican" in the 2012 presidential elections, declares that " what

8536-595: The subject of whimsical etymologies (for example, Languedoc was formerly understood as "land of the Goths" or "language of the Goths" ), as well as the rapprochement to the Occitan language exemplified in the names of the regions Languedoc and Occitania, we find in La Minerve Française , a collective work published in Paris in 1818, a history of name-changes of the provinces which reveals the word Occitanie to be

8633-420: The term Occitania was revived in the mid-19th century. The terms "Occitania" and "Occitan language" ( Occitana lingua ) appeared in Latin texts from as early as 1242–1254 to 1290 and during the early 14th century; texts exist in which the area is referred indirectly as "the country of the Occitan language" ( Patria Linguae Occitanae ). The name Lenga d'òc was used in Italian ( Lingua d'òc ) by Dante in

8730-577: 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",

8827-418: The territory and about 20% of natives who left. On the other hand, in the absence of a linguistic census, we only imperfectly know the number of speakers of Occitan. If the preceding notions are generally limited to the modern linguistic boundaries of Occitan, this term can also be used to designate a larger territory. The term "Occitania" becomes commonplace more and more in the vocabulary of scientists. It

8924-444: 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

9021-484: 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

9118-468: Was mortally wounded at the siege of Châlus in March 1199, it was Mercadier's physician who cared for him. According to one account, Mercadier avenged his death by storming the castle, hanging the defenders and flaying alive Pierre Basile , the crossbowman who had shot the king, despite Richard's last act pardoning him. Mercadier then entered the service of Eleanor of Aquitaine , and ravaged Gascony and

9215-474: Was renamed Occitanie (with the subtitle Pyrenees-Mediterranean ), according to the vote of the regional councillors on June 24, 2016, and after final validation by the Government of France and Conseil d'État . Despite the historic and political dependencies between the 10th and 13th centuries that eventually led to the creation of a common Occitan-Catalan cultural environment during Middle Ages, neither

9312-543: 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

9409-466: 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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