Not so dumb question. But by the way… why does the city of Toulouse have this name?
By Quentin Marais
Published on
A true cultural and historical pillar of the south of France, Toulouse is the fourth largest city in the countrybehind Paris, Marseille and Lyon.
But do we really know why it is called Toulouse?
“A constant subject of debate and reckless assumptions”
In the book Antiquity on the page (1996), by Pierre Moret, the writer, who devotes part of his remarks to the name of Toulouse, set the scene, and reminded us that the debate on the origins of this appellation was endless…
“The question of the origin of the name of Toulouse was, from the Renaissance to the Age of Enlightenment, a constant subject of debate and often rash hypotheses. But whether the interests of the scholarly world were focused on other fronts, whether the cautious skepticism of the best linguists has dampened enthusiasm, rare are, today, archaeologists or historians who still venture into this field.
Celtic or Iberian origin?
Although the bases planted by Pierre Moret bear witness to the difficulty which persists when explaining the name of Toulouse, he emphasizes: “it has long been established that Tolosa is an indigenous name that the Romans contented themselves with transcribing”. However, the writer nuance.
“But the diversity of the influences that crossed the “Gallic isthmus” throughout the Iron Age is such that one cannot hope to easily unravel the question of its paternity. Two main theses have been opposed since the 19th century The first makes Tolosa a Celtic toponym, the second recognizes it as Iberian.However, the majority of linguists stick to a cautious confession of ignorance, or evoke a pre-Celtic root of uncertain origin and meaning. “
“The ancient authors had found out what it meant…”
If the Dictionary of the streets of Toulouse (1991) by Pierre Salies gave an explanation of the names of the main arteries of the Pink City, he did not miss to broaden its analysis to the entire city.
“Old Writers figured out what it meant this name of Toulouse”, advances the author, who quotes Etienne de Gan, master in theology, in his Historical dissertation on the origins of Toulouse.
“‘Tollens exosa Deo’, a city pushing aside everything that is disagreeable to God; ‘Tollens ociosa’, a city pushing away idle things, Toulouse brings together the advantages of the neighboring regions of the West, such as the T, initial consonant, and the A , final vowel, enclose the other letters of its name.”
Pierre Salies quotes Prosper of Aquitaine, and gives another meaning: “the name of Toulouse was a word in three syllables: Good, designates the Father; Lo, the son, Logos; Her, the Holy Spirit, Saphana”.
Tholus? Well no…
Cleobule Paul, in Monumental and picturesque Toulouse (1842), tried another hypothesis. With one word: Tholusinscribed “on a large stone, and engraved in large characters”.
“This word put all the scholars, all the antiquarians of the city in me : what does it mean? »
“One of these scholars, having remembered that there had been a Trojan captain by the name of Tholus, determined that Tholus was the name of the founder of Toulouse, and that the stone on which it was engraved, was a clear proof of the Trojan origin of this ancient capital of the Tectosages.”
But in the end… it is not so. “A poor monk cut off, in an academic discourse, demonstrated to the good antiquarians that they had completely misled themselves, that the stone which formed the key of a vault was called in Latin ‘tholus’and that the one that had been found was the key to the entrance to the vault of the aqueduct”.
“The debate is now settled”
In 2019, 19 authors publish History of Toulouse and the Metropolis, under the direction of Jean-Marc Olivier and Rémy Pech, who notably studied at the University of Toulouse Jean-Jaurès.
Part of the book is devoted to the origins of Toulouse. And the contingent of historians affirms: “the very old debate on the origin of the original name of Toulouse, Tolosa, is today decided“.
“The debate raged for a long time between historians, linguists and archaeologists until the truth imposed itself by emerging, as often, from the comparison. The name Tolosa, attested by the Latin and Greek texts relaying a Gallic word, n “is of neither Latin nor even Gallic origin, but Ibero-Aquitaine. The comparison targeted the sites of France and Spain bearing similar names.”
“This discovery is rich in consequences and attested to by privileged relation of Toulouse with the Iberian Peninsula. »
The role of the Volques Tectosages
A few weeks ago, Toulouse News went back a few millennia to present the first inhabitants of Toulouse, and the place where they lived. And they had a name: they were the people of Volques Tectosages, settled in South-West Gaul around the IIIand century BC.
As historians explain in the book edited by Jean-Marc Olivier and Rémy Pech, “for many other peoples of Gaul, the names of designated towns in Gaulish were replaced, towards the end of Antiquity, by the name of the people whose capitals these cities were“. But then, how do you explain “Toulouse”?
“If Toulouse escaped this fate, it was thanks to a defeat. It was noticed that after the crushing of the Cimbri, the invaders of transalpine Gaul had rallied the Tectosages of Toulouse, shortly before 100 BC. , the name “Tectosages” quickly disappears from the texts to be replaced by that of “Tolosates”. The name of the people, as it happens, was erased from history by the winner.”
And to almost twenty history enthusiasts to continue: “the ultimate transformation, in the form of Latinization, will take place at the turn of our era, with the founding of a city whose inhabitants will have become Tolosani”.
And why this nickname of Pink City?
It’s a nickname that surprises more than one, and may suggest that there is a “naughty” motive, hidden behind this “Pink City”. But the reality is quite different. The historian Luce Barlangue, who investigated the origin of this nickname, delivered her verdict: “Among Toulouse poets, a poetic air of time linked pink with the idea of seduction, youth, sensuality, fragility, poetry the easy Tolose/pink rhyme probably did the rest…” She went on to explain that “it is indeed in the poetic environment that the image of Toulouse pink city is born”.
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