The bookstore Des Livres et Vous invited Jacqueline and Gaston Bazégales for the presentation of a completed reissue, and named like its previous version: “Discovering the place names of Quercy and the communes of the Lot, Toponymie lotoise” published by Édicausse .
On this occasion, Gilles Chevriau, creator of ÉdiCausse, was present. Gilles says he is an enthusiast who only prints what he likes and above all he loves everything that concerns the history, heritage, events and people of Quercy.
The Bazégales, historical writers, had their first publication in 1975 with “Méthode d'Occitan” by Gaston Bazégales, also author of a thesis on the Occitan speaking of Couzou. Numerous studies followed for the journal Quercy Recherche which, let us remember, was created in 1974 and whose studies can be consulted at the address: “societedesetudesdulot.org”, notably the excellent work on “La tuilerie de Saint- Project”.
This reissue completes the first printing in 2002 by Éditions de la Bouriane in Gourdon, directed by the bookseller and publisher Michel Soulié, now deceased.
Jacqueline, as a good ambassador for their work, relates: “Here again the first part concerns the contribution of the various populations which have succeeded one another, followed by the part devoted to the major toponymic themes. We have developed the rich vocabulary of stone, of water, vegetation, and others, before giving the etymology of the names of the municipalities Having devoted, over the years, numerous articles to the Lot heritage in various magazines, we had the pleasure of meeting our loyal readers. and of meet the new ones. Some of them knew the edition of the Letters of Marcellin Prosper Floirac (1914-1915), at the Archives du Lot in 2000, or our participation in the Encyclopédie Bonneton, Lot, also in 2000. In collaboration. we signed in 2019, with Éditions du Bord du Lot, De Pech en Combe, then, in 2020, Mariage en Pays d'Olt at Édicausse, in 2022, we published the first work entirely dedicated to goats in Quercy, to their importance not only in families, art, but also in economic life with this emblematic product that is cabécou and is titled From cabécou du Quercy to Rocamadour AOP: Goats, men, women… throughout History”.
Thus, we learn that the ancient name of the town of Gourdon could go back to the origin of languages and would have been born from the pre-Indo-European root (of which Indo would correspond to current Ukraine): Corn, described as a defensive height, linked to the Latin dunum, a reduced surface on a height.
Countless Lotois names have their origin in medieval Occitan linked to Latin.
Fans of toponymy, and there were many of them this Saturday, did not miss the opportunity to question Jacqueline and the encyclopedic Gaston.
