How Did France & Its Regions Get Their Names?

[@NameExplain]

Where's your favourite place in France? I love the town of Dinan, really pretty town.

[@thesilversickle1276]

I like Boulogne, Beautiful.

[@GeorgTheGr8]

I personally enjoy Chamonix. My family and I often go skiing there in the Winter because we live nearby.

[@yutubetom]

Mont Saint Michel is awesome!

[@paranoidise6458]

Normandy

[@junarix]

Anywhere around the Dordogne river

[@grimmonaute4347]

As a french I must say that I love your pronounciation and it's really touching that you put so much effort into trying to pronounce them correctly!!

[@NameExplain]

Doctor Arctic thank you very much for appreciating my effort friend!

[@NPJGlobal]

@-insert forgettable name- As a reasonable french person I wish to distance myself from the confused utterrances of my fellow countryman. We're (thank god) not all like him

[@newtriomapping8879]

But its still pronounced wrong as i am a fluent french speaker

[@jez9999]

@NPJ Global No, you just want to keep a globalist Rothschild banker in charge so he can be in touch with the "common people" and replace you with Africans. Keep drinking the Kool Aid!

[@jenemappellepaspieric7085]

@@NameExplain The only region that you mispronounced was mine, I'm unlucky 😢

[@ZelRaat]

As a French who lives in the the Grand Est region (former Lorraine), I can say that basically no one here will say they are "from Grand Est" as it is basically a constructed named that means basically nothing and has never been used before the region reform.

[@beyer17]

Yes, because in reality everyone knows, that you actually live in the Reichsland Elsaß-Lothringen

[@sonuvabitch]

Will always be Alsace-Lorraine to me

[@reschi56]

I think it's revolting that a nation just renames it's region without any historical or cultural context. A nation is in the end nothing else than similar region which have joined up together but the region of most old nations have still their own unique culture and spirit, only these regions itself should have the right to change their name.

[@e.milazzo1841]

@@sonuvabitch Well using Alsace-Lorraine would be forgetting Champagne Ardennes. So Alsace-Lorraine-Champagne-Ardennes (ALCA) would have been a greater name.

[@jeangenie9597]

Lord BeyerXVII Despite the german called it Elsass-Lothringen, Loraine had never been a part of germany. Only the northern part of Lorraine, Moselle, was a german territory, but the duchy of Loraine and Bar is frenched with no germanic influence.

[@alphaxalex1634]

*Alsace and Lorraine are French* Otto Von Bismarck: *‘Its free real estate’*

[@niklas4813]

AlphaxAlex Alsace and Lorraine? Do you mean Elsaß and Lothringen

[@jakes1566]

*Schleswig And Holstein are Danish* Otto von Bismarck: it's free real estate

[@reschi56]

@JoelTheBeardSurvivor Germany:Austria has voted to join up with the rest of Germany, they should be allowed to. Allies:Nope Germany:You said the nations have the right of self-determination, does Ellssas get a vote? Allies:Nope Germany:Can i have a larger army to defend myself? Allies:Nope(as France and Belgium invade the Rhineland.) Germany:Poland doesn't accept Upper Silesias vote to stay with us and forced over 100k Germans to flee, can we do something about it? Allies:Nope Nope:Lithuania has annexed Memel, can we do something about it Allies:Nope Germany:Poland is putting more and more political pressure on Danzig and East-Prussia, can you do something about it? Allies:Nope Germany:Poland hasn't accepted giving Danzig and a German rail connection to East-Prussia for a 25 year peace treaty(Invades Poland with the Soviets) Allies:You can't invade Poland(Declares war only on the Germans)

[@Oscar-vv6dn]

*it should be German*

[@Oscar-vv6dn]

@@reschi56 F

[@eltortugo1203]

This 13 région are mostly administrative, people here still identify to the former 22 régions

[@roryvillois]

Those 22 were already purely administrative and historically irrelevant. People just need time to get used with changes.

[@eltortugo1203]

@@roryvillois They were historically relevant. They originate from the former duchies or countyes of the Kingdom of France. For example, there were the county of Low and High-Normandy

[@mojo1er477]

You're true dude but all the regions wasn't historically relevant. A lot of regions was not complete like britanny which is missing Nantes at the south A lot of régions were the mix of two or three ancient regions like the Auvergne which is in fact à mix between Auvergne bourbonnais and Velay. And some régions where just stupid like pays de la Loire which is a mix between Maine Anjou à piece of britanny and à piece of Poitou. There is just two old régions which were historically relevant, Alsace and Lorraine. And... There were no upper and lower normandy before the revolution dude, stop say without know (sorry if there is mistakes, I'm french and I'm writing on my Phone so it try to correct each Word in french)

[@roryvillois]

@@mojo1er477 TY, I didn't have the time to make a proper answer ;)

[@mojo1er477]

@@roryvillois you're welcome

[@kobovad]

I'm grateful you mentioned the previous regions because even in 2019 most people I know (myself included) still don't fully "acknowledge" the new ones. Also, most people refer to "Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur" as simply "PACA".

[@quentinvermotdesroches372]

As a French, I have never heard anyone refer to PACA as "région du Sud" ! Where have you found that info ?

[@AD-jq7ow]

Ils ont changé le nom ils y a quelques mois mais tres peu connu encore...."le sud"

[@kefgeru_de_kalos]

@@AD-jq7ow non il a pas changer de nom

[@AD-jq7ow]

@@kefgeru_de_kalos tu as vérifié ?

[@kefgeru_de_kalos]

@@AD-jq7ow oui et j'habite dans cette région

[@AD-jq7ow]

@@kefgeru_de_kalos verifie quand même j'y habitais aussi..

[@HisMajestyGuigui]

The cultural region of Occitania is actually much larger as it encompasses the whole south of the french state (former régions of Aquitaine, Limousin, Auvergne, the new Occitanie région, Provence ans the south of the Rhone-Alpes region), French basque country, french catalonia (despite being a part of the Occitanie administrative region yeah I know it's confusing) and Corsica are not Occitan places. The name of Occitania comes from the Occitan language, also know as the language of Oc (from the word Oc which means yes), and the cultural region is the area where the language is spoken. It is a threatened language that is seeing its number of speakers decrease due to french policies. I am a speaker of it though.

[@Lyendith]

Regarding Occitania, two things: −Occitania was never really a "region", it's the name of a linguistic and cultural area (where Occitan is spoken) that more or less covers the southern half of France, as well as small bits of Italia and Spain. −Despite the name, the current region has a small department in the south-east (Pyrénées-Orientales) that's historically Catalan, not Occitan.

[@poseidon6666]

I'm a french, living in Région Centre (which btw isn't center of the Loire valley but just of all France) and I never heard of Région Sud, just PACA, short for Provence Alpes Cote d'Azur.

[@jeremyzimmerman6968]

J'habite en Alpes-Maritimes est en fait, c'est un nouveau nom qui est utilisé par PACA surtout avec leur nouveau slogan "Ici, c'est Sud!" C'est pas officiel et c'est que le gouvernement qui l'utilise.

[@AD-jq7ow]

Ils ont changé pour "le sud" mais c'est toujours tres peu utilisé

[@deezychesse]

I linve in the region "Hauts de France"

[@Hugo-gc8jm]

Ils veulent changer apparemment ... j'habite dans les alpes maritimes aussi et on voit quelques affiches avec PACA barré et en dessous : "ici c'est le sud" où un truc comme ça ... mais j'aurai préféré qu'on soit consulté avant qu'ils fassent le changement, c'est loin de faire l’unanimité

[@sephikong8323]

@@Hugo-gc8jm Rien dans les réformes des régions n'est apprécié. Honnêtement, PACA n'est pas un beau nom mais au moins ça fonctionne et résume très bien la région. Région Sud c'est complètement ........ ouais on est au sud et alors ? D'une ça n'est pas la seule chose qui défini la région et de deux, en ce cas alors pourquoi juste nous ? Non parce qu'on pourrait juste faire une énorme région de tout ce qui est au sud de Lyon et dire région sud dans ce cas. Ce changement est honnêtement un des pires, au même niveau que Hauts de France et Grand Est. Au moins des choses comme Nouvelle Aquitaine font du sens (le nom est très idiot mais au moins ça ressemble au vieux duché d'Aquitaine donc ça a ne serait ce qu'un oeu de légitimité comme changement contrairement aux autres, même si le nom n'a pas dû demander beaucoup d'efforts)

[@brandarheinsson2877]

I don't know if this is true, however: I've learned in history class that the name "Burgundy" derives from the germanic people who settled there in the early middle ages. The Burgundians originally lived further up north in Europe (alot of details skipped) and you can still see the names there. F.x the danish island of Bornholm has the same etymological roots as Burgundy. In Faroese (a nordic language that is much older than Danish, Norwegian and Swedish) Bornholm is called "Burgundarhólmur" so you can at least see a phonetical simularity between the two. In this case it would be the same as in Britony, Normandy and... France etc.. That's what i've heard at least.

[@tonio103683]

The part where Bornholm got its name after the Burgundians is doubtful; The Scandinavian origin of Eastern Germanics (Goths, Burgundians, Vandals…) is as of now disputed. However, it is clear that in the case of Bornholm, would be weird that "Burgundehulm" wouldn't be linked to burgundians in any way, it would be a hug e coincidence. Burgundy is indeed named after the Burgundians (Burgondes in French). What is funny is that the current area that is now called Burgundy was a fringe part of the original Burgundian Kingdom. For the most part, in the medieval period, Burgundy reffered to the Rhone Bassin instead, meaning today's Rhone-Alps and Provence as well as West Switzerland and Franche-Comté. So this name traveled from Scandinavia (or Poland depending on which theory you subscribe to) to South France then settled more north in Bourgogne.

[@Eldiran1]

I'm from Franche-Comté and that true! Burgondy was a duchy who was controlling Franche-Comté for many years until we set up free so that where we take that name (Franche-Comté mean free shire ) . Also Burgondy was a powerful duchy in the middle-age/renaissance , they even make a mariage with the spain and the duke of burgondy became king of spain! (Also holland was vasals to them before that )

[@Jenkouille]

@@TheZapan99 Arthooooour! Cuillèèèrrre!!!

[@TheZapan99]

@@Jenkouille Pas changer assiette pour fromage.

[@arthurstein-tarnowski4732]

Brandar Heðinsson yes everyone and everything comes exclusively from Germanic people

[@NikkiMKarLen]

The Champagne region of France isn't called Champagne anymore?! What the hell, France?

[@Felishamois]

R.I.P Picardy, Champagne, Lorraine, Alsace, Limousin, Poitou

[@afh7689]

There still is a region called Champagne, but it's a historical/unofficial region and is part of the administrative region of Grande Est.

[@Felishamois]

Territorial reform of 2014, the government decided on a whim basically to fuse regions into these unholy globs to make them have bigger populations and GDP so they could be on par with other "Euroregions"

[@Felishamois]

@@afh7689 (That's Grand Est counterintuitively), all the regions I've listed are historical regions that still exist for the medium or long-term future in the consciousness of the people who inhabit them. If you're from Picardy and you introduce yourself to someone else in the South of France, you don't say you come from "Hauts de France" (at least I feel as though it would sound weird as hell). Many associations and funds for example will keep having Picardy in their name, because Picard is a French sub-culture (and overlapping language group), or regional culture, like the Flanders in Nord-Pas-de-Calais.

[@Felishamois]

@snowy cloud never been to Poitou, don't know anything about it, it's got forests and an amusement park

[@jefverstraete8574]

The region of Burgundy is called afther the Burgundians, an old germanic people who migrated there during the fall of the roman empire and were conquered by the Franks. Franche comte was originally named comté de bourgogne (county of burgundy) and both burgundy and franche comte were part of a larger kingdom of burgundy (Arelat) that reached to the mediterranean.

[@majan6267]

Little error at the beginning, the Franks after whom France is named did not get their name from any word meaning "free", that is an widespread myth, it's vise versa the Franks where mostly free people, in contrast too many galloroman inhabitants of their kingdom, so their name took on the meaning "free". "Frank" originally comes from an old germanic root which is akin to modern high German "frech" (naughty) and meant as much as "bold/audacious" but also "greedy" and "naughty/cheeky".

[@pusillirex]

Well they were raiders after all

[@lucaswatson1913]

My mum's from Brittany, lovely picture of Dinan you found to use. Have eaten at the restaurants on the left bank many times :)

[@MisterBrickFilms]

I can add a Name Explain for "Côte d'Azur": it was created by a poet from Burgundy (best region BTW) who copied it on "Côte d'Or". "Côte d'Or" is the département where Dijon, the Burgundian capital, is located ; the "Côte" part is the name of a hill range going through Burgundy from North to South, and "d'Or" ("of Gold") stands for the colour of the leaves of all the vineyards on the Côte during the autumn. It's the only département out of the 101 different ones which is named after a poetic term, and not a basically geographic one.

[@Eldiran1]

As someone who come from Franche-Comté , i must disagree, burgondy is not the best . (The rivality between your 2 regions amuse me ) Btw nice explaination . Ps: the best area of burgondy is , in my opinion , the morvan , at least it's not flat and without tree .

[@Musketeer009]

You mentioned that Burgundy had given it's name to a shade of red. in France, the red we call Burgundy is called Bordeaux.

[@ManaPeerfr]

Interesting. In-between very french sounding regions, you call Normandy, Burgundy, Corsica and Britanny by their english names. In french, they're called Normandie, Bourgogne, Corse and Bretagne. Fun facts, our word for blackish-red is Bordeaux, which is a city in Nouvelle-Aquitaine and is also know for it's red wine. And we call Britain "Grande Bretagne" (Great Britain) or, more rarely, "Ile de Bretagne" (Island of Britain).

[@MajorZeroCELL]

Tu as mal écris "Royaume de Logres", du coup on en a gros.

[@ManaPeerfr]

@@MajorZeroCELL Le Royaume de Logres ? Historiquement c'est la Mercie (un bout de l'Angleterre), et dans Kaamelott, ça comprends l'Ile de Bretagne, l'Irlande, les iles autour, l'Armorique et l'Aquitaine. OUI J'EN AI GROS !

[@MajorZeroCELL]

@@ManaPeerfr Exactement :D (Je viens de voir que le correcteur a écrit Ogre au lieu de Logres). Tous ces pignoufs qu'on inventé ce système j'te renvoie tout ça en Carmélide à coup de pieds dans les raisins.

[@ManaPeerfr]

Héhé^^

[@BangFarang1]

@@ManaPeerfr Dans Kaamelott c'est aussi la Murcie. Les autres sont des vassaux mais ne sont pas intégrés dans le royaume de Logres.

[@1999ATP]

If you put on those old red-blue 3d glasses and look at the tricolore you can see their actual flag in 3d

[@Asendrys]

I don't see any change

[@jakes1566]

Yeah, it still looked completely white

[@theortheo2401]

@@jakes1566 fuck off Sincerly, a French citizen

[@-Faris-]

Read the above comment with a heavy French accent. It makes it 10 times funnier.

[@theortheo2401]

@@-Faris- :D

[@washizukanorico]

Unexpected episode about France! One or two little pieces of info for those who like to explain names : - Occitanie is the place where people used to speak Occitan / la langue d occ (the ” occ” language) : occ was the way to say yes in southern France for centuries. Locals voted to renamed the region occitanie highliting the region cultural differences with northern France (where yes was said “oïl”) - the region “Bourgogne Franche comté” name indeed comes from two former regions names Bourgogne and Franche comté. The funny thing is that comté means county and this “free-county” used to be called the county of burgundy back when it was part of the Holy Roman Empire (it was “free” because one count supposedly didn’t t pay hommage to the emperor at some point). The former “Bourgogne” part of the Bourgogne Franche comté region used to be called the duchy of Burgondy back when France was a kingdom. Evidently both the duchy and the county of Burgondy used to be part of the kingdom of Burgondy (oh yes there was a kingdom of Burgondy at some point even if nobody remember nowadays). .... alll that to say : one Burgondy got divided between France( the duchy) and Holy Roman Empire ( the county) France eventually got both parts and when it reunified the whole Burgondy in 2016 through administrative reform they called it Bourgogne Franche comté and not just Bourgogne! And this is where you realize that southerners make ev rything they can to show they have their own culture while easterners seem not feel the need to remind everyone that they used to have their own independent kingdom ... France is definitely not monolithic though even if it s less known than the Uk ... -

[@lucaslonchampt613]

5:52 It's also simply referred to as "PACA" Nice video by the way

[@jgr7487]

was that a pun?

[@reda84.]

@@jgr7487 no, as someone who lives in paca, i can confirm

[@jgr7487]

@@reda84. was the "Nice video" a pun?

[@reda84.]

@@jgr7487 i don't think so but it might be

[@TheZapan99]

Corsica is named after a Phœnician term for “wooded isle.” Corsican people lived mostly inland until the late 19th century, to avoid raids from muslim pirates (the barbary pirates), and survived by relying on their livestock and their chestnut trees.

[@1leon000]

Ah yes, Phoenician with an œ, just like how it's spelt properly.

[@DonVueltaMorales]

Just for the record: At 5:25, you show the Pont Saint-Bénézet in Avignon, which is now Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, though that is indeed the Rhône that you see flowing under the Pont.

[@cachalot309]

2 facts about the wine stories you mentioned: - Sparkling white wine can only be called Champagne if it has be produced in Champagne region ! - Burgundy is the english word for the color coming from de burgundy wine, but in french we call this color Bordeaux from the color of the red Bordeaux wine ! Great video despite little mistakes here and then ! :)

[@eiraremejeene]

I'm definitely not French, but kind of know how to pronounce French especially the regions of France (mostly because of Miss France, haha), so hearing the pronunciations were fun, not with deriding mocking laughter, but with heartfelt pure fun innocent laughter. So I liked that because of it's entertainment value. Plus the video is informative, of course. But I also liked the entertainment factor. Good job, I may say! :)

[@kirankanhai6907]

Could you do the Dutch provinces?

[@BreadLoeuf]

Kiran Kanhai | Ja!

[@jipjulianwerner9331]

Lieve hemel ik kan mezelf de uitspraak al voorstellen

[@TheJH1015]

ik ga me rot lachen bij Gelderland, Groningen, Limburg en Utrecht xD

[@kirankanhai6907]

@@TheJH1015 sowieso

[@zakattack8624]

When Caesar was invading Cislpine Gaul, the Guals, like the Belgae, Vercingetorix, Dumnorix; the Gauls battle cry, which came from Dumnorix's last dying words were, " I am a free man of a free people!" When Vercingetorix created a confederation like alliance during Caesar's second British invasion, those final dying words became the battle cry for all the Guals. Perhaps that's where it came from?

[@Amornick21]

The theory to why they were called “free” was not because they lived tax free after they conquered Gaul, but that they originally lived on the side of the Rhine which was not under Roman control, so compared to those Germans in The Roman Empire, they were “free”

[@yukirby3741]

Name explain of languages (that aren't named after the country / people): Dzongkha, Magyar, Hebrew, Mandarin etc

[@yukirby3741]

@ChemicalFun27 you're right, forgot about that - still applicable as an example to what I meant though

[@ericlanglois9194]

​@@yukirby3741 I like your suggestion, but not your examples :) One is definately named after the people that spoke it (Magyar) and at least two of them are named after a group of people (Hebrew and Mandarin)

[@ericlanglois9194]

@Džudžan not sure how my statement is wrong since it's still a language named after a people >.>

[@Donald_Trump_2024]

Actually, Magyar is named after them in their language: Magyarország, Magyár.

[@BangFarang1]

@@ericlanglois9194 A correct exemple would have been Tagalog spoken by the Filipinos.

[@videolabguy]

In the late 1960s or early 70s, we had an educational program, on TV in the US of A, called Word Smith. That fellow would explain the roots of the words we used daily. I was mesmerized (see what I did there?) and longed for similar programming ever since. Your channel is the answer to my wishes. I will share this with all my friends. You make the subject accessible and fascinating. Thank you! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wordsmith_(TV_series)

[@DrJimmy93]

That sounds like a show I would absolutely love!

[@mojewjewjew4420]

great!

[@LangThoughts]

As a linguistics major, I'm disappointed you didn't talk about the true origins of the name Occitaine. In the Early Middle Ages, Southern France was not France, and they spoke a group of Gallo-Romance dialects called D'oc, as the word for yes was oc. France proper spoke a group of dialects called D'oil, as the word for yes was oil, which evolved into modern French oui.

[@panzeelecreusois6357]

It's "Occitanie" not Occitaine

[@caferustwat]

Langue d'oc, was its previous name

[@panzeelecreusois6357]

@@caferustwat it was the name of a former-region, but there was also Midi-Pyrénées

[@HisMajestyGuigui]

I speak the Occitan language

Centre-Val de Loire actually used to be called just "Centre", which means it is the center of the country. However, Val de Loire was added recently to give the region more of an identity than just being the middle (Middle-Earth would have been cool though)

[@himlingpatrice]

Which is funny is that was dicided by law because a part of the people of that region refused the words "val de loire".

[@zoick21]

Ile de france is said to be named because during the middle ages, whike technically answering to the King of France, most regions were pretty much autonomous and people identified more with their region than the country as a whole. All except the region around paris, directly governd by the crown and therefore the only place truely french, like an island of frenchness. Not sure how accurate that is but thats what they used to teach us in school.

[@CuzicanAerospace]

It's worth mentioning that Occitane is one of the homes of the Occitan language, or "langue d'oc" -- hence the former province of Languedoc-Roussillon. All three names are derived from "òc", the word for "yes" in Occitan.

[@Ezullof]

The worst region name is "hauts de france". It means "highs of france", but it's very flat, without mountains. It's called like that because "it's in the upper part of the map!". It's so infuriating.

[@Norhod]

So infuriating, exactly ... I can't hear it without complaining about it out loud, even if I'm with people (who usualy don't care at all about it, wich makes me even more frustrated)

[@clairedrn7421]

it's 'high' is the way that's it's at the top of France, not bcs there are mountains or anything

[@Norhod]

@@clairedrn7421 We're not dumb, we know "why" they name it that way. But it makes no sense to name a region "high" because it's on the north. Absolutly not logical in terms of geography or toponymy.

[@clairedrn7421]

@@Norhod I never said you were dumb but ok ig, and it is a weird and ugly name and we hate using that word

[@BangFarang1]

@@Norhod Hauts de France means Upper-France, like Haute-Volta meant Upper-Volta. Haute-Marne, Haute-Savoie, Haute-Loire, etc.Upper-Canada and Lower-Canada, Alta-California and Baja-California. Geographers named regions like that since centuries, so it makes sense. No relation with mountains.

[@frafrafrafrafra]

I really enjoy your videos, if you'll do the Italian regions next we would be really glad. Grazie

[@Laceykat66]

OK,OK, your high-pressure sales tactics (and great videos with fantastic information) forced me to buy your book. Happy now !!!!

[@SandyEvelyn]

Hey, I really love your channel. I would like to make two observations: 1. Latin Francia comes from German Frankreich (kingdom of the Franks) 2. I would have liked an explicit mentioning of Occitanie being the back-most region (think of Occipital lobe in the head) which in geography terms means the West, as the Sun settles there last. Great job!

[@poliorcetix979]

Occipital and Occitania don't come from Occident, nor Francia comes from standard German

[@LeJobastre1215]

What a load of BS. If you don't know just don't talk

[@hrvar]

Hauts de France : nommé ainsi par des analphabètes car c'est la région en haut de la carte du pays. Accessoirement région la moins haute de France. Nord-Pas de Calais : nom des deux départements qui composait la région, l'un nommé car c'est le plus au nord du pays, l'autre car il borde la limite Manche/Atlantique (le pas de Calais) Picardie : la province des picards Île de France : voir île de la cité à Paris Champagne-Ardenne: un version du mot "campagne" dans un dialecte chuintant et massif montagneux Lorraine: comme Alsace, aucune idée Centre-Val de Loire: région au milieux de la carte (sic) et vallée de la Loire Bourgogne-Franche-Comté: pays des burgondes et compté franc (compté libre) (Nouvelle-)Aquitaine: ambigü Limousin: pays de la ville de Limoge Poitou-Charentes: Pays de la ville de Poitiers et région du fleuve Charente Auvergne : Pays des Arvernes, Languedoc : Pays où se parle la langue d'Oc Roussillon : nom de la région naturelle/ province correspondant aux Pyrénées orientales Midi-Pyrénées: Midi = sud, au sud avec les Pyrénées Occitanie: Pays de la langue d'Oc Provence (Alpes-Côte d’Azur) : première province (Provincia) de Rome hors d'Italie, et un bonus pour faire oublier l'identité historique et penser aux vacances

[@aubade4619]

Lorraine = dérivé de Lotharingie, pays de Lothaire, petit-fils de Charlemagne qui a hérité d'une partie de l'Empire carolingien après le traité de Verdun

[@Coz57]

Merci. Je prône le retour de la Lotharingie voire de l'Austrasie @@aubade4619

[@Coz57]

Alsace : des Alamans

[@NouriaDiallo]

Limousin : pays du peuple gaulois des Lemovices, qui ont aussi donné leur nom à la capitale régionale.

[@MrWiscow]

Île de France vient pas de l'île de la Cité! Calais marque plutôt la limite entre la Manche et la Mer du Nord Et Aquitaine vient de la province romaine Aquitania

[@CollinBuckman]

Occitaine itself is actually a combination of Aquitaine and "oc" (which is the word for "yes" in Occitan, a Romance language that was once the majority in southern France)

[@panzeelecreusois6357]

It's "Occitanie" (or "Occitania" in english) . Not "Occitaine"

[@AndreMalraux20341]

Occitan is a old french langage . The "ie" at the end is just here to significate "land of occitan" or "country of the occitans".

[@HisMajestyGuigui]

Occitan is NOT a "french language", it's a language on its own. It's actually more similar to Catalan (that I van somewheat understand) and Zeneize (spoken in Liguria, Italy, I understand it quite well). I'm a speaker of this language

[@AndreMalraux20341]

@@HisMajestyGuigui L'occitan est une langue française, considéré comme une langue régionale. Étant donné que j'ai grandi dans le Tarn je comprends cette langue. Elle est issue des langues "d'oc" à la différence avec les langues dites "d'oïl" qui ont ensuite données le français. Mais on peut les considérer comme des langues françaises (il n'y a pas "un" occitan mais une multitude qui partagent nombre de points communs).

[@HisMajestyGuigui]

@@AndreMalraux20341 Je le parle couramment, avec des gens de différents dialectes, et j'ai pas mal de bases en linguistique occitane (lecture de Domergue Sumien, etc). Il n'y a pas de langueS d'oc au pluriel. Il n'y en a jamais eu qu'une seule, LA langue d'oc. L'occitan n'est pas "issu" de cette langue, le terme "occitan" n'est qu'une des nombreuses dénominations de la lenga nòstra (encore une tiens). Pas plus que le français n'est issu des langues d'oïl d'ailleurs, le français est une des langues d'oïl. Et ce n'est pas une langue "française". Le fait que l'occitan soit parlé dans l'état français n'en fait pas une langue française, pas plus que le basque, le breton, le catalan, l'alsacien, l'arpitan, le corse, etc... il n'y a qu'une seule langue française, ça s'appelle le français. L'occitan est d'ailleurs parlé dans les Valadas Occitanas, c'est dans l'état italien et j'ai eu l'occasion de les visiter et de parler avec des locuteurs. Il est aussi parlé dans la Val d'Aran, dans la Generalitat de Catalunya administrativement, et il est officiel là-bas d'ailleurs. Après effectivement il y a de nombreux dialectes... mais ça reste UN occitan, UNE langue, unie dans sa diversité (bien plus que le basque avant le batua par exemple) Je récapitule : L'occitan n'est pas une langue française car ce n'est pas du français, parce qu'il est parlé en dehors de l'état français, parce qu'il est plus proche du catalan, du zeneize ou de l'aragonais. Et c'est pas un "old language" d'ailleurs. C'est une langue moderne et vivante.

[@mojo1er477]

Hi, I'm french and I noticed some detail -centre val de Loire doesn't mean '' centre of the Loire valley. It's just the old name of the region (centre) which mean center of France and val de Loire was added in 2016. Because actually the center of France is in the extrem south of the region so they considered that the name wasn't clear enough. -I never Heard someone say '' region du sud'' to speak about.'' Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur '' à lot of People says '' PACA'' or maybe sometime ''Provence'' which was the name of the region before the révolution

[@FSquare]

Hey man, you've come a long way since I met you 2 years ago in Amsterdam for Vidcon, been a Patreon for a while! It's been fun listening to your French pronunciation, keep it up! Florian

[@alistairt7544]

Your pronunciation is so adorable 🥰 But you forgot the overseas regions :( It's like forgetting to mention Alaska and Hawaii :/

[@sachajobert1548]

I am french and live in France so I must tell you that we don’t usually call « Provence-Alpes-Cote-d’Azur » « région du sud » but instead just « PACA », it’s much shorter and everybody understands !

[@Ynysmydwr]

5:45 The region which has Marseille as its administrative centre is (still) officially and legally known as Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. However, at the end of 2017 the regional council took the decision to use the designation "Région Sud Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur" (or, more snappily, just "Région Sud") in all its promotional materials -- i.e. as a kind of regional trademark. The decision was taken largely because of dissatisfaction with the growing use in recent years of the acronym PACA, which was thought to be not only rather meaningless in itself but also not particularly beautiful.

[@gigglysamentz2021]

Main issue with your pronunciation is that "ou" in French is pronounces like "oo" in English, not like "uh"

[@Musketeer009]

And 'Sud' is pronounced 'Sood', not 'Sod'.

[@vb8133]

@@Musketeer009 Actually neither of those, the sound made by an individual "u" in french doesn't exist in the english language

[@Musketeer009]

@@vb8133 I know, but it's the closest thing to it. I speak french so I'm aware of the slight differences.

[@vb8133]

@@Musketeer009 Personally wouldn't compare to an 'oo' sound, though

[@strasbourgeois1]

It’s just u in general. Like in the word ‘drapeau’ meaning flag. It sounds like ‘drahpoo’.

[@Guhhgur]

Man it’s crazy to know that I’m named after a whole French region next to Switzerland…I did research and apparently they love winter sports and some bussin wine.

[@Duke_of_Lorraine]

Another former region, well my region, now part of "Grand Est" : Lorraine. The name (it's more explicit in german Lothringen or in latin Lotharingia) comes from Lothar, one of Charlemagne's grandsons who got the middle part of his empire, sandwiched between his brothers. Of course the bread of the sandwich ate what was between so what defined everything from the Netherlands to Northern Italy has then been used to name the region.

[@createurdecommentairesdepu1232]

I'm from France and you learn To me things i didn't know about my own country...Thanks 👍

[@PierroCh5]

Most of us don't refer to the region we live in using the new regions' names, I live in Rhône-Alpes and no one says "I live in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes". The 2016 reformation has been greatly criticised, mostly by the provincials since we were directly impacted by these changes. They should have asked the opinion of the people, but they didn't. Basically what happened is that one day the government said "Oh btw we're going to change EVERYTHING even though there's no need to do it, and even though literally no one asked... !". What a dick move 😴.

[@devtogoru]

I was in france in 2016 when they gave out the options for the new names. I was pretty happy with the name occitania, even though it clearly further undermines the catalan part in the rousillon /rosellón. But at least its simpler. And Grand Est could have been Coeur de l'europe (heart of europe) imagine how cool would that be.

[@teaandtrumpets5664]

This was a great video. You should do a video on the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean sea, they are highly over looked!!

[@HalfEye79]

In german is also the old saying "frank und frei" ("frank and free")

[@majan6267]

That saying is not as old as you might think, "frank" in the sense of free was intruduced into modern high German in early modern times

[@HalfEye79]

@@majan6267 Sure. But today, it wouldn't been understood by the youth.

[@moccus3466]

From Poitou-Charente, Nouvelle Aquitaine! Merci Beaucoup, très bien!

[@cardett75]

Burgundy is originaly the name of a germanic tribe and the kingdom they establised before being overtaken by the franks, the kingdom became a duchy under the frankish kingdom just like normandy and then a region of the french kingdom

[@dustman0048]

The name "Occitanie" is not accepted by the French Catalan (Perpignan) because there are not Occitan but Catalan...So the region is now called "Occitanie Pyrénées-Méditerranée". After the reform of the region, lot of people is angry because the "Historic" name are remplaced by "Bullshit" name like Grand Est (=Big East) or Haut de France (=Upper France)...

[@julienmarcelino-lourenco9529]

"le nom « Occitanie » est officiel depuis le 28 septembre 2016 et effectif depuis le 30 septembre 2016. S'il est sous-titré « Pyrénées-Méditerranée » par le conseil régional, ce sous-titre n'apparaît pas dans le Journal officiel de la République française." Donc c'est juste Occitanie, le sous titre n'a aucune valeur.

[@dustman0048]

@@julienmarcelino-lourenco9529 Oui mais je sais pas si tu vit en Occitanie mais il y a toujours cet ajout "Pyrénées-Méditerranée" sur les affiches de la région, les panneaux, journaux, prospectus etc...

[@julienmarcelino-lourenco9529]

@@dustman0048 Je vis à Gaillac, je suis né à Albi, dans le Tarn. L'ajout Pyrénées Méditerranée ça doit juste être là pour faire plaisir aux catalans, qui ont gueulé, mais le nom de la région, administrativement parlant, c'est juste Occitanie :).

[@dustman0048]

@@julienmarcelino-lourenco9529 Apres je nie pas ce que tu dis x) mais en tous cas en Occitanie on voit cet ajout (qui est clairement la pour faire plaisir aux catalans...)

[@sergent-the-end3600]

Le gouvernement se fiche des "provinciaux", de tous ces petits peuples locaux et leurs langues historiques. Tous ces petits pays et leurs frontières historiques vont y passer. En Bretagne, on nous refuse la réunification avec Nantes depuis des décennies et on tente de nous habituer au "Grand Ouest" depuis quelques années. Tout est bon pour casser l'identité régionale.

[@louis_d7613]

Très bonne vidéo sur mon beau pays merci ! Very good video on my country thanks you!

[@FirefoxisredExplorerisblueGoog]

The Dutch Etymology Bank (etymologiebank) lists the possible origin meaning of the word 'frank' as 'fierce, wild, brave'. It also mentions that the possible proto-germanic root is *frek-, *frōk-. By saying the Franks were named after the Old English 'franca' surely you mean after the Old Dutch 'franca' which are cognates, right? English wasn't around back then.

[@noahtoy6514]

Great video! Keep up the good work!

[@lisaheisey6168]

My paternal grandmother's Mowbray side of our family, which was originally called Montbrai before it became Anglicized when they went to England, came from Normandy.

[@antoinemozart243]

Many names ending in "ay" ( Corday) in "ey" ( Disney, Cheney) in Oy or oyle ( Doyle) or beginning by "Fitz" ( french "fils" meaning "son of") originate from Normandy. Many english names that end with "ry", "ett", "ier" or simply "y" come from other parts of France after 1066. When you check on " origin of names" in specialised sites and you read :" name of french or english origin" you can be 100 % sure it is from french origin . The so called " english" origin comes from 1066 !

[@anglobostonian]

I would love to see a Name Explain video discussing either the names of the 50 US States plus DC and Territories or the names of the ten Canadian provinces and three territories. Thank you!

[@Adam-jn5ei]

The 50 US states would be very interesting!

[@akmalfakhruddin7285]

He already did canada

[@germenfer]

Hey NameExplained!!! Nice video! Would love to see Spain next.

[@ahmedhafez3097]

Regions of Egypt, they are SO diverse and come from all over the timeline. Pharaonic, greek, Arabic, Nubian and more. Also Egypt in Arabic is Misr, which means « the country/state » in Arabic.

[@sandradermark8463]

Patrick - You can see France from the window? I live in Valencia - but once I went to Cadaqués, Dalí's village, and we could tune in to TV5 Europe (French telly)

[@Krissykr]

Thanks for posting this video now i'll be able to remember the names for my exams :D

[@justakid7991]

Who’s French here and is watching this to see if it’s accurate?

[@jaclun]

You need to do a video on the Counties of Norway before 2020!

[@JeremyWS]

That was interesting, I liked it. I am American, myself, but I do speak some French. I would really like to visit Paris, someday soon. I think it's a very beautiful city, from all the pictures I've seen. I wouldn't mind seeing it, in person someday. [You do excellent work on your videos. I wish I could make videos as good as yours.] Great video, keep up the good work.

[@leviosadream2454]

If you visit France, visit the other regions as well, there are plenty of things to do as well and people are often nicer 😉

[@loustic59vda]

Don't limit your visit on Paris. Frankly, there are so many places to visit in France. Buy a FrancePass by train and wander in several cities. One more advice, if you have the chance to visit the castles at the edge of Loire. That is incredible. Mainly Chambord !!

[@gigglysamentz2021]

I'm French and I think you've improved with pronunciation XD

[@wilhelmlegothdegascogne9674]

So, in English : Haut-de-France = Hodoflance Nord-Pas-de-Calais =Nopadcalais Picardie = Picadi Normandie = Normèndi Île-de-France = Ilodiflance Paris = Parisssssssssss Région Parisienne = Lrégion Palisianne Grand Est = Gland est (lol) Alsace = Alsassa Champagne-Ardennes = Champèlgne Arledennes Lorraine = Lorwène Bretagne = Bristannie Pays de la Loire = Pet di la Loar Centre-Val de Loire = Centeur Val de Loa (yes, goodbye the R) Bourgogne-Franche-Compté = Bourgeuneuh Franche Comptè Nouvelle-Aquitaine = Noveulle Aqueutène Limousin = Limousine (vroum vroum) Poitou Charentes = Poiltou Charentes Aquitaine = Aquitaine (so why Aqueutène ?) Auvergne Rhône-Alpes = Olveurne Ron (Wesley ?) Alp Auvergne = Olveurne Rhône-Alpes = Ron Alp Occitanie = Ossitaie Languedoc-Rousillon = Landoque Rossillone Midi-Pyrénées = Midipirini Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur = Provente Alp Cot d'Azeur Région du Sud = Rlégion dou Soud Corse = Corsica (with Russian accent please)

[@lyrakae]

I don't know if it is a slang but in france Provence Alpes cote d'Azur was always refered to as "Region PACA"

[@SarAyundrylDuncan]

PACA is just the acronym of Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur, it is no slang :p

[@Duke_of_Lorraine]

To hell with "Grand Est", "Greater East". I use the name "Austrasia" instead, after a frankish kingdom (litterally meaning "East Kingdom") that was in the area. And yes you might mistake the name for Austria or Australia but at least the name has some history behind it. "Nouvelle Aquitaine", "New Aquitaine" was also a terrible choice. "New something" is a way of naming oversea territory, that remind of a homeland region.

[@JustPingo]

We mostly refer to the south-east region as Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (PACA). I've never heard anyone use "Région du Sud", even on the news, it's not very common.

[@coffee7936]

What song did you use for the background music?

[@lukethomeret-duran5273]

While doing Occitanie he didn't even mention Occitan language and culture which used to be the major language of the south until french was forced on them. Even the region Languedoc (òc meaning yes in Occitan) in Occitanie means the occitan language as the north was langue d'oïl (oïl or Oui meaning yes in french).

[@frankleepower2333]

A Belgian wanted to see the tunnel between France and England in Calais. Almost at his destination, he read a sign that said, "Pas de Calais". He turned around and went back home. A story told to me by a Frenchman.

[@adrien5116]

It's probably just a joke he tried to make. Belgians are often subjects of jokes that debict them as stupid. These are just jokes and they do joke back on us on our hypothetical arrogance. Who cares ? They are just french who took the wrong end and ended up in southern netherlands !

[@cass2239]

Fairly sure (as a historian who has studied the Albigensians) that the southern region of Occitanie or Occitania is pronounced with a harder 'ck' sound than yours but I understand if you're using a more standard, northern pronunciation

[@ThePopoch]

In French, Occitanie is pronounced O sea tanny (sorry, trying to make it understandable)

[@cass2239]

@@ThePopoch I understand that it may be in standard but was curious as to how it would be in modern southern French as whenever I was taught on it my lecturer (who had spent time as a tour guide in the region) pronounced the harder 'ock' sound

[@pawion]

I am a french speaker and I have always pronounced O-ksee-tany

[@donwald3436]

Is with hard k in Occitan language?

[@akaryzoo2034]

@@ThePopoch No it's not. I'm from there and I've never heard anyone say it like that. It has a hard k sound.

[@pitioti]

Can we talk about the lazy naming of Haut de France and Grand Est?

[@Lyendith]

That was Hollande's presidency for you. Half-assing everything and never asking anyone.

[@pitioti]

@@Lyendith The worst is... There was a consultation... But not of ALL the inhabitant :/ ! And you will not make me belive that they (the inhabitant) really chose those lame Name XD !

[@GalVirable]

From Belgium hier, now when we drive North (High) we have the down lands ( NederLand ), and when we drive South ( Down ) we have the high lands ( High of France ). That's an utterly ridiculous situation. This region used to be called Flanders-Artois-Picardy (FAP), which you will agree is a far better acronym for our French neighbors :>

[@McGliga]

Sorry im an asshole i love correcting youtubers. Azure Coast (Cote d'Azur) is actually on the Mediterranean, not on any oceans as you said on 6:11

[@Shawouin]

"I can see France from my house!" You should run for vice-president!

[@himlingpatrice]

Very nice !

[@erinrising2799]

I had heard that the limousine car got it's name from the limousine breed of cow, which is fairly long bodied

[@leviosadream2454]

I live in the Occitania region, and it comes from the name of the language from Oc (meaning yes), which was opposed to the language of Oïl (meaning yes as well) but on the northern part of France. Eventually, the northern part took control of the southern one during the middle ages and the Oïl language took over the Oc, and gave the word Oui for Yes. 😉

[@Loukilouk04]

which gives Languedoc - Langue d'Oc - Oc Language ?

[@LeJobastre1215]

​@@Loukilouk04Exactly

[@docteurflou]

Brittany is actually called Bretagne in french.

[@Coz57]

We should rename as "West- Region"

[@docteurflou]

@@Coz57 Or salted butter region. That be more accurate.

[@breizhatao3561]

@@Coz57 Ye sure, and destroying even more the Breton culture like France did by making it illegal to speak Breton during the 50's, 60's

[@max_208]

But... The mont st michel is in brittany 😎

[@fredp664]

No !! in Normandy

[@leviosadream2454]

C'était obligé xD

[@max_208]

@@leviosadream2454 en même temps ils l'a cherché, il a mis le mont st michel pour illustrer la Normandie... Mais c'est mal de diffuser des informations fausses

[@bjamesm]

Background music was louder than you were at times. I suggest turning it down, or off. However, a good video, regardless.

[@ovs8691]

1:05 Oh the Irony...

[@antonrahmanov7485]

I love actaine, mostly the warm parts. You make such good videos, can you make a video explaining bangladesh and west bengal please?

[@4ntiIvIon]

You've recorded the complicated names separately, didn't you? ;) But it's nevertheless a great vid!

[@alc5161]

There is also others régions over the seas : La Réunion, La Martinique, La Guadeloupe , Mayotte, La Guadeloupe

[@FemboyTrain]

Can you do the German states next please?

[@FemboyTrain]

@@BichaelStevens Yes

[@stormcloudtheory]

THIS! I was about to recommend this too :)

[@hoangkimviet8545]

Ile-de-France = Island of France when it's in mainland!!! :-0

[@karanbhatt9320]

US and France are now brother. Football must be play with hand Island of France is land locked

[@Xerxes2005]

Well, Rhode Island is not an island either...

[@Coz57]

Même dans leur nom, les parisiens veulent vivre seuls, sans la province . Rester sur votre IDF

[@efuii]

Names explain of the states of Brazil!

[@aricologue]

Burgundy owes its name principally to a Germanic people who settled here around the same time as the Franks. They were called the Burgundians, which explains why Burgundy is now called Burgundy. Long ago, Burgundy was a country apart.

[@jaysonsernachannel1624]

In the Philippines, we also use the word "Prangka" spoken almost like Franca, which in the Philippines, could mean to speak freely and limitless.

[@20thcenturytunes]

"Fr-ah-nce" or "Fr-aw-nce" or "Fr-ā-nce"? Also, Brittany isn't that where the cool and awesome dog breed comes from?

[@NouvelEmpire]

as a french i'm asking you why did you traslate some region ? like bourgogne and bretagne to burgundi and bitania ?

[@himlingpatrice]

Several French regions use names from ancient provinces. The names of these provinces had been translated into English. It is logical that regions also have their translated name. It is just too bad that the words brittany (bretagne) and great-britain (grande-bretagne) be different in english. Peoples don't view the link between these territories.

[@superbird4351]

Just a quick tip when you see an E that looks like this (É) in French, it’s pronounced as a long A. Great video though!

[@dababy.]

So... will you do a Swiss episode? It would be really awesome being Switzerland a confederation of states

[@wasigupitobudiarto7767]

good job! france is merging its province from 22 to 13 meanwhile in my country : from 27 to 34

[@candyneige6609]

4:10 actually, the region Centre-Val de Loire changed it's name from "Centre" during the 2016 territorial reform simply beacause the name "Centre" is too boring.