Toulouse: Saouzelong district
Saouzelong which comes from Occitan Sause Long. Pronounce Sause Long in lenga nòstra. So be careful not to pronounce ”Soze Long” or ”Saouze Long”. Cossí que turns brave world / anyway, if the name of this district is written in French in a single word, well know that this is not the case in Occitan: well no. Sause Long is a friendly name / Saouzelong is a compound name. Avètz Sause from one side and Long from the other / you have Sauce which is written in Occitan SAUSE and Long the other.
What is a sausage?
A sause, aquò’s lo name of a tree. Yes, you heard right, it’s the name of a tree. And that tree is the willow. The willow is this deciduous tree or shrub that grows near humid places / at the broa of the aiga, especially along rivers. By the way, you often hear about the weeping willow. The weeping willow whose branches fall to the ground. Weeping because its long hanging branches-vines are the cause of its name. Alavetz, d’acòrdi per sause mas perqué Sause Long?
Why is this willow tree long?
long break designates the great willow or the late willow. Cò segur / what is certain is that this tree, the willow, likes damp places. Before the construction of the Canal du Midi, long break is a marshy place / un lòc amb d’aiga, de sanhas, de paluns / in short, swamps which will therefore favor the establishment of this tree: the willow / lo sause in Occitan. Fin finala, saludam los estatjants de Sause Long / farewell-siatz e bona jornada to all the inhabitants of long break listening to us on 91.8.