Toulouse. Basso Cambo, Mermoz, Argoulets: why this name for line A metro stations?
By Quentin Marais
Published on
While the third metro line must, in Toulouse, arrive in 6 years, the first to have been put into service will soon blow out its 30 candles. The first trips of the line were made in 1993. The route has 18 stations, taken every day by thousands of travelers. But whence their name ?
Basso Cambo: the story of the rod
Before being the terminus of line A, Basso Cambo was covered with agricultural land. The name of the district, and therefore of the eponymous metro station, is derived from the Occitan words “basso” (low) and “camba” (stem) which, by extension, means “field”.
Bellefontaine: a matter of castle
Like many resorts, Bellefontaine owes its name to the eponymous district. And it is explained by presence of a castle, so named and which, in the 18th century, was the scene of a transformation, that of a former farm. The building, which covered a generous fountain of water, was destroyed in 1960.
Reynerie: Louis XV around
La Reynerie also owes its name to a castle, which Guillaume Dubarry owned at the end of the 18th century. An accession made possible thanks to a marriage of convenience with the beautiful mistress of King Louis XV, so that she could become Countess Du Barry. The site was classified as a historical monument in 1963.
Mirail university: a reflection
mirail means “mirror” in Occitan. Having become Jean Jaurès today, the University of Toulouse le Mirail wishes to remain the mirror of its humanist tradition. It specializes in Letters, Arts, Languages and Human and Social Sciences.
Bagatelle: a castle before an expansion
It is again a castle story that concerns Bagatelle. Like Bellefontaine, it was demolished to make way for a large set of social housing: 800 dwellings were built in 1964, while a real demographic expansion occurred during the same decade.
![Bagatelle metro station.](https://static.actu.fr/uploads/2022/03/bagatelle-toulouse.jpg)
Mermoz: a thought for “the Archangel”
Mermoz station comes from “the Archangel”, nickname given to Jean Mermoz, a French aviator who was a legendary figure in the Aéropostale. During a Dakar-Rio flight on December 7, 1936, he disappeared while at the controls of the “Croix-du-Sud”, a Latécoère 300 seaplane. The group is based in Toulouse.
Fontaine Lestang: first a swamp
Seventh station on the route, starting from the south-west of the Pink City, Fontaine Lestang takes its name from the eponymous path, which has since become rue Henri Desbals. It meant ” source of the pond“. The land, before being composed of a flowering garden, was, for several decades, a swamp.
Arenas: the high school as a symbol
Between 1953 and 1989, the “Arènes du Soleil d’Or” were for a long time the scene of events can accommodate 14,000 people, in this structure built of concrete. Destroyed at the gates of the 90s, they notably gave way to a high school, with a characteristic semi-circular architecture.
Patte d’Oie: a legend
To understand the meaning of the name of this station, you simply have to rewind, to go up in the Visigothic Toulouse of the 5th century. A legend of Queen Pédauque then surfaced: it is a mythical queen with goose feet.
Saint-Cyprien République: an old suburb
Why Saint-Cyprien Republic? The answer can be found, here too, in the history of the district: there was a time, it was a suburb from the city. The mention “République” comes from the street of the same name, which crosses the sector.
![Saint-Cyprien Republic station.](https://static.actu.fr/uploads/2022/03/saint-cyp-toulouse.jpg)
Esquirol: doctor’s word
Jean-Etienne Esquirol was a doctor 18th century alienist. Born in Toulouse, he is an essential pawn of French psychiatry. Note that the surname Esquirol, found many times in the departments of Ariège and Tarn, means “squirrel” in Occitan.
Capitole: a few steps from a central square
Again, unsurprisingly, the metro station bears this name because of its proximity to the essential place in the pink city. The town hall of Toulouse is also a few steps away: it is one of the main stations in the city center.
Jean-Jaurès: the crossroads
The Jean-Jaurès station provides the correspondence between the two lines. Jean Jaurès had taught in Albi and Toulouseand became France’s youngest deputy in 1885. Municipal councilor of the Pink City, he was assassinated on July 31, 1914 in Paris, a few days before the First World War.
Marengo SNCF: the Napoleonic style
Marengo, today in Italy, comes from a battle between Napoleon Bonaparte to the army of the Holy Empire, in 1800. It is also the name of an improvised dish made from chicken, eggs, tomatoes and crayfish, served to the French general, who ended up asking for more … and rename Marengo his favorite horse.
Jolimont: a renamed hill
If the Jolimont metro station bears this name, it owes it to an orchestrated change at the end of the 19th century to the Calvinet hill, an Occitan term meaning “the little bald mountain”, then takes the name of Jolimont. Since then, the sector has retained this name, and given it to the station.
Rose garden: place for flowers
Myosotis, Primrose, Orchids : the names of the streets that make up the surroundings of the Roseraie metro justify its name, as well as that of the district that houses it. The flowers have, indeed, a very large side!
Argoulets: a circus affair
An argoulet is a light cavalry soldier, recruited in Greece and Albania, and having served in France in the 16th century. But if the pictogram looks like a camping tent, which could suggest that several soldiers have decided to settle here, the reference is rather for the circus schoolwhich moved, in 2008, under a marquee in the Argoulets sports area.
![Les Argoulets, located northeast of Toulouse.](https://static.actu.fr/uploads/2022/03/argoulets-toulouse.jpg)
Balma Gramont: a stone path
The plot is finished! Part of the South-West of Toulouse, line A ends in the North-East, in Balma, and therefore outside the Pink City. “Balma” means “stony ground”, in Occitan. In the past, a stone path going towards Lavaur and Agde made it possible to pass the Hers.
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