Occitania is the historical region in southern Europe where the Occitan language was historically spoken"The ancient language of the South of France, was called, la langue d'oc, from the sound of its affirmative particle. From this circumstance, the country has been called Occitanie, and a specific portion of it, Languedoc. The French have lately formed a new adjective, Occitanique, to comprize all the dialects derived from the ancient tongue." in Sharon Turner, The history of England (during the middle ages), London, Longman, Hurst, &c. 1814. Read on GoogleBooks and where it persists today as a local language. This cultural area roughly encompasses much of the southern third of France (except the French Basque Country and French Catalonia) as well as part of Spain (Aran Valley), Monaco, and parts of Italy (Occitan Valleys).
Occitania has been recognized as a linguistic and cultural concept since the Middle Ages. The territory was united in Roman times as the Seven Provinces (Map of the Roman Empire, c. 400 AD) and in the Early Middle Ages (Aquitanica or the Visigothic Kingdom of Toulouse,Map of the Visigothic Kingdom or the share of Louis the Pious following Thionville divisio regnorum in 806Map of the 806 divisio regnorum'. Louis' share in yellow.).
Currently, the region has a population of 16 million, and between 200,000 and 800,000Fabrice BERNISSAN (2012). "Combien l'occitan compte de locuteurs en 2012 ?", Revue de Linguistique Romane, 76 (12/2011-07/2012), pp. 467-512« De fait, le nombre des locuteurs de l’occitan a pu être estimé par l’INED dans un premier temps à 526 000 personnes, puis à 789 000, » ("In fact, the number of occitan speakers was estimated by the French Demographics Institute at 526,000 people, then 789,000") Philippe Martel, "Qui parle occitan ?" in Langues et cité n°10, December 2007. people are either native or proficient speakers of Occitan. More commonly, French, Piedmontese, Catalan, Spanish and Italian are spoken. Since 2006, the Occitan language has been an official language in Catalonia, which includes the Aran Valley, where Occitan gained official status in 1990.
At the time of the Roman empire, most of Occitania was known as Aquitania.Jean-Pierre Juge (2001) Petit précis – Chronologie occitane – Histoire & civilisation, p. 14. The territories conquered early were known as Provincia Romana (see modern Provence), while the northern provinces of what is now France were called Gallia (Gaul). Under the late Roman empire, both Aquitania and Provincia Romana were grouped in the Seven Provinces or Viennensis. Provence and Gallia Aquitania (or Aquitanica) have been in use since medieval times for Occitania (i.e. Limousin, Auvergne, Languedoc and Gascony).There were once numerous native practitioners of Catharism in Occitania, but they were eliminated, often by being burned alive at the stake, around the period of 11th century.
The historic Duchy of Aquitaine should not be confused with the modern French region called Aquitaine: this is a reason why the term Occitania was revived in the mid-19th century. The terms "Occitania"Joseph Anglade, Grammaire de l'ancien provençal ou ancienne langue d'oc, 1921, Part I, Chapter 1, p. 9: Le mot Langue d'Oc a d'abord désigné le pays où se parlait cette langue; c'était une expression géographique. Le pays de langue d'oc s'appelait en Latin Occitania (formé sans doute sur Aquitania) ("The words Langue d'Oc first designated the country where the language was spoken: it was a geographical expression. The land of the langue d'oc was called Occitania in Latin (probably coined from Aquitania"). and "Occitan language" (Occitana lingua) appeared in Latin texts from as early as 1242–1254Frederic Mistral, Lo Tresor dóu Felibrige (1878–1886), vol. II, p. 1171: "Les textes abondent qui montrent l'origine française ou ecclésiastique des expressions lingua occitana et Occitania. Le pape Innocent IV (1242–1254), un des premiers parle de Occitania dans ses lettres; les commissaires de Philippe le Bel qui rédigèrent l'arrêt sanè des coûtumes de Toulouse se déclarent Ad partes linguae occitanae pro reformatione patriae designati et stipulent que leur règlement est valable in tota lingua occitaniae." to 1290Robèrt LAFONT (1986) "La nominacion indirècta dels païses", Revue des langues romanes nº2, tome XC, pp. 161–171. and during the early 14th century; texts exist in which the area is referred indirectly as "the country of the Occitan language" (Patria Linguae Occitanae). The name was used in Italian (Lingua d'òc) by Dante in the late 13th century. The somewhat uncommon ending of the term Occitania is most likely from a French clerk who joined the òc and Aquitània in a portmanteau term, thus blending the language and the land in just one concept.Bodo MÜLLER. "Langue d'Oc, Languedoc, Occitan", in: Verba et Vocabula, Festschrift Ernst Gamillscheg, München 1968, pp. 323-342.
On 28 September 2016, Occitanie became the name of an administrative region that merged the previous regions of Midi-Pyrénées and Languedoc-Roussillon; it is a small part of Occitania.
Geographic extent
The extent of Occitania may vary according to the criteria used: Based on a geolinguistic definition, Occitania is the area of Occitan language as surveyed at the end of the 19th century. Robert Lafont, Clefs pour l'Occitanie, Seghers, 1971; p. 11 The formerly Occitanophone regions are not included. Robert Lafont, "Clefs pour l'Occitanie", Seghers, 1971; p. 13
On the other hand Occitan is still spoken in the French Basque CountryOccitan on the Basque television Jornalet 2 December 2014Okzitanierak bizi duen egoeraz EITB 23 November 2014 and in the Catalan Countries (the Val d'Aran and the Fenolheda), and internal allophone enclaves (Petite Gavacharie of Poitevin-Saintongeais language, ancient Ligurian enclaves of eastern Provence, the quasi-Ligurian-Occitan enclave of Monaco ...). This leads to variations in whether small internal or external enclaves are taken into account.Las enclavas lingüisticas , language = oc| Sumien Domergue| text = Sumien Domergue, Jornalet, 29 August 2016 The definition of a contiguous and compact Occitan-speaking territory is currently the most widespread.
Occitanian culture flourished in the High Middle Ages. Many writers, poets, and exponents in the troubadour movement used Occitan as their language of choice, and their works prominently featured courtly love as well as, at times, ideas of religious and social tolerance., Théorie de l’aliénation et émancipation ethnique. Suivi de: Pour en finir avec le Mammouth, Circle Alfons Mias, 2014, According to this definition taken up by historians and anthropologists, the domain is extended north to the Loire including former Occitanophone regions (Aguiaine, Boischaut, Bourbonnais, etc.).
Northern Italy and the Catalan Countries were also homes of troubadour using the Koiné Occitan literary. In the same way, the Basque Country and Aragon benefited from Occitan stands, old or newer, which notably gave rise to the appearance of an Occitan dialect south of the Pyrenees. We can also note the historical use of an Occitan scripta as official language.La scripta administrativa en la Navarra medieval en lengua occitana: comentario lingüístico Ricardo Cierbide Martinena, in Zeitschrift für Romanische Philologie (ZrP). Volume 105, Issue 3-4, Pages 276-312, ISSN (online) 1865-9063, ISSN (print) 0049-8661, , November 2009An Occitan scripta in the Kingdom of Navarre in the Middle Ages (13th–16th centuries) (formation and functioning) Louis Grange, 2012Occitan medieval scripta in Euskal Herria (full text) Ricardo Cierbide Martinena Fontes linguae vasconum: Studia et documenta, ISSN 0046-435X, Año n° 25, 62, 1993, pp. 43-60
The name Occitanie appeared in the Middle Ages on the basis of a geographical, linguistic and cultural concept, to designate the part of the French royal domain speaking the langue d’oc."Le pouvoir royal et la lingua de hoc, alias Occitania" : "It is the irruption of the Capetian power far south of its original domain which causes the manufacture of the name of the countries which it integrates henceforth with this field. We can not call them "County of Toulouse", or "Viscount of Albi, Béziers, Carcassonne", since there are more viscounts since the late Montfort, nor counts after the death of Alphonse in 1271. However, we must find a clear designation, which is done at the end of 13th century. This will be the part of the royal domain where we speak a language that is not that of the other party, there in the north: the Langue d'oc, in latin Occitania. This can include, at random conquests, other areas where the same language is spoken ..."