Authie, Calvados

Authie

Authie Town Hall
Authie

Coordinates: 49°12′24″N 0°25′50″W / 49.2067°N 0.4306°WCoordinates: 49°12′24″N 0°25′50″W / 49.2067°N 0.4306°W
Country France
Region Lower Normandy
Department Calvados
Arrondissement Caen
Canton Caen-2
Intercommunality Caen la Mer
Government
 • Mayor (1983–2020) Joël Pizy
Area1 3.21 km2 (1.24 sq mi)
Population (2010)2 1,394
 • Density 430/km2 (1,100/sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code 14030 / 14280
Elevation 60–73 m (197–240 ft)
(avg. 65 m or 213 ft)

1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Authie is a French commune in the Calvados department in the Basse-Normandie region of north-western France.

The inhabitants of the commune are known as Althavillais or Althavillaises.[1]

The commune has been awarded one flower by the National Council of Towns and Villages in Bloom in the Competition of cities and villages in Bloom.[2]

Geography

Authie is located some 6 km (4 mi) north-west of the centre of Caen. Access to the commune is by road D220 from Villons-les-Buissons in the north-east which passes through the centre of the commune and the village and continues to Carpiquet in the south. The D220C also goes south-east from the village to the urban area of Caen. There are also the hamlets of Hameau de Saint-Louet, Franqueville, Fermie du Calvaire, and Cussy in the commune. Apart from the large residential area the commune is entirely farmland.[3]

Neighbouring communes and villages[3]

 Rosel Cairon Saint-Contest
Rots
  Authie  
Carpiquet Caen

Toponymy

The name of the town is attested in the forms Alteium in 1227 and Auteya in 1264.[4]

Albert Dauzat matched Authie with Authie in Somme department (Altegiam 830) on the coastal river Authie (Alteia 723) and considers it primarily as a hydronym but does not provide any further explanation.[5]

According to René Lepelley this toponym is based on the pre-Celtic element alt in an unknown sense and is close to Authou in Pont-Authou.[6]

François de Beaurepaire sees a Gallic (Celtic) element in the alt in Authou.[7]

The Gallic term Attegia was recognized by Xavier Delamarre in Atheist-type names - e.g. Athis in the sense of "cabin or hut".[8]

This analyses to ad- (pre-verb) and tegia meaning "house" (cf. Old Irish teg, old Welsh tig, Welsh Ty, Old Breton tig, and Breton ti all meaning "house").[9]

It is likely that Authie contains the same element tegia preceded by another prefix. From a phonetic point of view there is a palatalization of the intervocalic consonant where [g] becomes [j] and then an Amuïssement or attenuation of [j]>[∅], a recurrent phenomenon in phonetics.

The same author explains that Arthies (Artegiae 680) may come from *Are-tegia which is a possible solution for Authie, knowing that [r] regularly becomes [l] before a consonant.

The name Altavilla is either a medieval romanization of a place named Hauteville as in Hauteville in Manche department and therefore does not relate to Authie. It may be a scribal error for *Alteia Villa or *Villa Alteia which mentions a villa, i.e. a rural area in medieval Latin, in a place called Alteia which is Authie.

History

In 1832 Authie (466 inhabitants in 1831) absorbed Saint-Louet-près-Authie (9 people)[10] in the west of its territory.

The commune was liberated on 8 June 1944 but was largely destroyed in the bombing.

Administration

List of Successive Mayors[11]

From To Name Party Position
1983 2020 Joël Pizy

(Not all data is known)

Twinning

Authie has twinning associations with:[12]

Demography

In 2010 the commune had 1,394 inhabitants. The evolution of the number of inhabitants is known from the population censuses conducted in the commune since 1793. From the 21st century, a census of communes with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants is held every five years, unlike larger communes that have a sample survey every year.[Note 1]

Evolution of the Population (See database)
1793 1800 1806 1821 1831 1836 1841 1846 1851
650 382 565 571 466 625 623 630 593
1856 1861 1866 1872 1876 1881 1886 1891 1896
567 500 453 434 425 369 382 394 358
1901 1906 1911 1921 1926 1931 1936 1946 1954
361 313 262 266 294 302 348 202 348
1962 1968 1975 1982 1990 1999 2006 2010 -
414 514 571 645 780 983 - 1,394 -

Sources : Ldh/EHESS/Cassini until 1962, INSEE database from 1968 (population without double counting and municipal population from 2006)

Culture and heritage

Civil heritage

The commune has one site that is registered as an historical monument:

Religious heritage

The Church of Saint Vigor

The commune has two religious buildings and structures that are registered as historical monuments:

The Church contains one item that is registered as an historical object:

See also

External links

Notes and references

Notes

  1. ↑ At the beginning of the 21st century, the methods of identification have been modified by Law No. 2002-276 of 27 February 2002, the so-called "law of local democracy" and in particular Title V "census operations" allows, after a transitional period running from 2004 to 2008, the annual publication of the legal population of the different French administrative districts. For communes with a population greater than 10,000 inhabitants, a sample survey is conducted annually, the entire territory of these communes is taken into account at the end of the period of five years. The first "legal population" after 1999 under this new law came into force in 1 January 2009 and was based on the census of 2006.

References

  1. ↑ Inhabitants of Calvados (French)
  2. ↑ Authie in the Competition for Towns and Villages in Bloom (French)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Google Maps
  4. ↑ Albert Dauzat and Charles Rostaing, Etymological Dictionary of place names in France, Librairie Guénégaud Paris 6th edition, 1979, p. 39a. (French)
  5. ↑ Albert Dauzat and Charles Rostaing, op. cit.
  6. ↑ René Lepelley, Etymological Dictionary of commune names in Normandy, Charles Corlet éditions PUC 1994, p. 54b - 55a. (French)
  7. ↑ The names of communes and old parishes in Eure, A. and J. Picard, François de Beaurepaire, preface by Marcel Baudot, 1981, Paris, 221 pages, ISBN 2-7084-0067-3, OCLC 9675154, p. 56 (French)
  8. ↑ Xavier Delamarre, Dictionary of the Gallic language, éditions Errance 2003, p. 59. (French)
  9. ↑ Xavier Delamarre, op. cit. (French)
  10. ↑ Communal Notice - Authie (French)
  11. ↑ List of Mayors of France (French)
  12. ↑ National Commission for Decentralised cooperation (French)
  13. ↑ Ministry of Culture, Mérimée IA80000395 Ornamental Garden in the Chateau of Authie (French)
  14. ↑ Ministry of Culture, Mérimée PA00111024 Church of Saint Vigor (French)
  15. ↑ Ministry of Culture, Mérimée PA00111023 Cemetery Cross (French)
  16. ↑ Ministry of Culture, Palissy PM80000272 Bronze bell (French)
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