Répertoire toponymique des communes de la région Midi-Pyrénées - Patrice POUJADE

Répertoire toponymique des communes de la région Midi-Pyrénées - Patrice POUJADE
Repertòri toponimic de las comunas de la region Miègjorn-Pirenèus - Patrici POJADA

(Gazetteer of municipalities in the Midi-Pyrénées region)

Place names are part of our cultural and linguistic heritage. They contain important elements of the history of populations and places, and are a strong link between language and the territory in which they are embedded, and which they have most often served to describe and designate. All place names help us to discover and understand the historical reality of a region. That's why it's essential to preserve them and use them in the local language. In our region, however, place names - be they towns or villages, forests, mountains, plains, valleys or rivers - essentially "speak" in Occitan. Over and above the methodological and technical problems involved, the aim is to safeguard and promote a heritage and, more broadly, to contribute to the vital task of socializing the Occitan language: the use of bilingual signage stems from this imperative. To this end, and as it would be insufficient to confine ourselves to municipal entrance signs, we have appended to this directory a list of terms that may be useful when setting up signage in Occitan.

As part of our cultural and linguistic heritage, place names contain important elements of human history. This Répertoire toponymique des communes de Midi-Pyrénées is a response to the need to preserve them and know them in the local language. It provides the classic Occitan spelling and pronunciation of the names of each of the 3019 communes and a number of other population centers in the region.
The Centre de ressources occitanes et méridionales commissioned Patrice Poujade, professor of Occitan and history-geography in the Académie de Toulouse, lecturer in modern history at the Université de Toulouse-Le Mirail and author of several works on the Occitan language, to synthesize the initial data collected by a number of researchers and associations.
A practical tool at the service of the Schéma de développement de l'occitan (Occitan language development plan) adopted by the Midi-Pyrénées Region, this toponymic repertory is intended to facilitate the implementation of bilingual signage by the institutions and communities concerned, thus making it possible for everyone to become familiar with this rich heritage, to bring it to life, and to contribute to expressing the personality of each of our region's territories.


CROM - Centre de Ressources Occitanes et Méridionales.
Editions Loubatières.

The author:
Patrice Poujade is a university professor of modern history and head of UMR 5136 FRAMESPA at the University of Perpignan. His current research focuses on trade, commercial networks and the development of the region.