gascony

English - English

Definition of gascony in English English dictionary

A former region of France that was eliminated during the French revolution|French revolution]]

French Gascogne ancient Vasconia Historical and cultural region, southwestern France. It encompasses portions of the southwestern French régions of Aquitaine and Midi-Pyrénées. Historically, it consisted of the northern foothills of the Pyrenees and extended east from the Basque Country along the France-Spain border to Toulouse on the upper Garonne River. Under Roman rule it was the province of Novempopulana. Taken by the Visigoths in the 5th century and by the Franks in 507, it was overrun from 561 by the Basques, or Vascones; in 602 the Frankish kings recognized Vasconia, or Gascony, as a duchy. In 1052 it was conquered by Aquitaine, and in the 12th century it passed to the Plantagenet kings of England. In the Hundred Years' War, Gascony retained English allegiance until the French reconquest in the mid-15th century

{i} region in southwest France

Hyphenation

Gas·co·ny

Etymology

() From Old French Gascoigne, from Gasconia, from Wasconia, from Vasconia from Latin Vascones, plural of Vasco, from Ancient Greek ουασκωνους (ouaskōnous), as used by Strabo|Strabo]] in his Geographica|Geographica]] (23 CE), Book III.Larry Trask|Larry Trask]], The History of Basque Routledge: 1997 ISBN 0-415-13116-2 either from αἴξ (“goat”) (literally “he-goat people”), or variant of Ausci (from which Aquitan, Occitan, and perhaps related to Euskara). Cognate to Basque (compare to Gascon). For sound changes: /v/ → /w/ occurred in the change from Latin to Proto-Romance, while /w/ → /g/ common in (non-Iberian) Romance languages, notably French; compare warranty and guarantee, William and Guillaume. By contrast, /v/ developed into /b/ and /β̞/ in Spanish and Gascon, under influence of Basque, hence the divergence.