The Oise bible has just been published, says Jean-Claude Malsy, smiling. From the Bible, the three volumes of the dictionary “The names of places of the Oise” have the weight. Three kilos! To put under the tree, it will have an effect: 1730 pages, 6000 place names studied, from the origins to the present day. All the old forms of the names of towns, villages, hamlets, localities in the Oise department. A colossal amount of historical information.
Tononymy, the study of place names
Small example:
Épayelles, commune of Courcelles-Épayelles, in the canton of Estrées-Saint-Denis
The name appears in 1119 according to Canon Pihan, in his book dating from 1885. In 1119, the abbey of Saint-Just-en-Chaussée collected the tax and we find the terms “decimam de Espaieres”, i.e. that is to say the tithe of Épayelles which was called Espaieres at the time.
We find the name again in 1138, this time it is “decimam de Hespaieres”, with an H.
And, also in 1138, in a work preserved in the National Library of France, and there, in a long sentence, the name becomes Espaerias.
And it doesn't stop there. For the rest, you will have to delve into the book.
For each commune of some importance, Jean-Claude Malsy provides the toponymy, that is to say the meaning of the name.
40 years of research
For Epayelles, the term is of obscure origin. “It is perhaps a diminutive of the old French espare “stick, beam”, from the Low Latin spaldus “haite or defensive wall”, from the Germanic sparro (cf. the German Sparren “chevron”): “ the defensive hedge”. There was probably a subsequent attraction to the Picard payelle (“frying pan”).
The Brunehaut road passed there and still passes there, it connected Bavay (like Belgium) to Beauvais. “And now there is a radar,” says Delphine, our secretary who was listening and who rides a motorcycle.
But Épayelles is only one example among the 6000 which appear in the three volumes.
All joking aside, the gigantic work represents 40 years of research in libraries and archives. Jean-Claude Malsy is a historian, graduated from the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Études Paris-Sorbonne, Picardy Book Prize for his book “The Forest of Compiègne on the Paths of History”, Albert Dauzat Prize for the Topographical Dictionary of department of Aisne, administrator of the French Society of Onomastics at the National Archives, member of the Historical Society of Compiègne.
A conference in Senlis on January 18
Jean-Charles Bédague, chief curator of heritage at the interministerial service of the Archives of France, writes: “Jean-Claude Malsy is a plowman. After having crisscrossed the lands of Aisne and Pas-de-Calais, he has just returned to those of Oise.
He adds: “These place names belong to all those who are connected or attached to the Oise: where does the name of my village come from? since when has the name of my neighborhood been attested? This dictionary can also be pecked.”
To find out more, Jean-Claude Malsy will meet you on January 18, 2025, at the Historical and Archaeological Society of Senlis where he will give a conference to present his works.
The Oise of place names, from origins to the present day
three volumes, 1730 pages, 33 euros per volume
At the author's house 33 bis, avenue Foch 60190 Estrées-Saint-Denis
livresmé[email protected]
