Saison (river)

Saison
Country France
Basin features
Main source Licq-Athérey
288 m (945 ft)
River mouth Gave d'Oloron
43°24′8″N 0°58′27″W / 43.40222°N 0.97417°W / 43.40222; -0.97417 (Gave d'Oloron-Saison)Coordinates: 43°24′8″N 0°58′27″W / 43.40222°N 0.97417°W / 43.40222; -0.97417 (Gave d'Oloron-Saison)
Progression Gave d'OloronGaves réunisAdourAtlantic Ocean
Basin size 627 km2 (242 sq mi)
Physical characteristics
Length 72 km (45 mi)

The Saison[1] or Uhaitz Handia,[2] is a left tributary of the Gave d'Oloron river in the French Basque Country, (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), Southwest of France. Its general south to north direction provides the axis for the former French province of Soule. It is also known as the Gave de Mauléon.

Geography

The river is formed in Licq-Athérey from the confluence of the Gave de Sainte-Engrâce (from the Pierre-Saint-Martin Cave) and the Gave de Larrau (from the Pic d'Orhy).

It flows north and joins the Gave d'Oloron in Autevielle-Saint-Martin-Bideren, downstream from Sauveterre-de-Béarn.

Départements and towns

The riverside towns are Tardets-Sorholus and Mauléon-Licharre.

Name

The vernacular name Uhaitz handia (or simply Uhaitza) is based on the common word uhaitz meaning "torrential river" in Euskara. It corresponds to the French word gave. -a is the article and handi means big.

The enigmatic gascon name Saison could be a contraction season with the former name Gaison, itself derived from the variant ugaitz of uhaitz.

Tributary names are also linguistically interesting, with two specific stems:

The stem gezal, a derivate of basque gazi 'salty', applied to 'still water', is also represented.

Main tributaries

Notes

  1. Gaison on the 18th century map by Cassini; Sazon in 1548.
  2. Uhaits handia on the map of Cassini
  3. x [X] is a softened allomorph of the phoneme z (laminal [s] as the French ss).
  4. also graphied Aphanire following Paul Raymond, Dictionnaire topographique du département des Basses-Pyrénées, 1863.
  5. Aphanize, Aphanice
  6. L'Apaure, la Phaure…
  7. La Phaure, Lafaure…

References


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