What's in a name?

The village nearest to us and Lunel is called Saint Just. It is a pretty place, just on the fringes of the marshes and lakes or étangs which lie between us and the sea, and it is passionate about bulls - the panels on the roundabouts at either end have nice metal cutout heads of black bulls and white horses. You can find out more about the village at http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Just_(Hérault) but not, as far as I can see, which of the several possible saints of that name was behind the original mediaeval settlement. But the family name Saint Just is famous in France because of the Count of that name who was a key players in the French Revolution, the so called 'Archangel of the Terror'.

When I was young I used to go on holiday to Cornwall and recall the picturesque village of St Just in Roseland, not far from Truro. The saint in that case seems likely to have been the 7th century archbishop Justus of Canterbury. Back here in France the village names that have intrigued me most are those ending in -argues or -ergues. They caught my attention first because we were for ever muddling Vérargues and Valergues, Souvignargues and Sussargues, and so on. There are I find over 40 names like this among the 750 or so communes in the Hérault and the Gard, and the suffix means 'earth' or 'soil' - territory perhaps, or in wine speak, terroir - in the local langue d'oc (roughly like Provençal).

The parallel word is that for water, Aigues, which crops up in the names of towns and villages, several called Aigues Vives (living, or fresh, water) and one not far from us Aigues Mortes, (literally 'dead', that is salt, water). We love visiting Aigues Mortes despite or perhaps because of its overtly tourist aspect.

Here is the complete -argues list - a kind of blank verse you could chant:

Aimargues, Arpaillargues-et-Aureillac,

Aubussargues, Aujargues, Baillargues,

Bouillargues, Bragassargues, Buzignargues,

Caissargues, Cambon-et-Salvergues,

Candillargues, Cavillargues, Domessargues,

Estézargues, Galargues, Gallargues-le-Montueux,

Générargues, Goudargues, Guzargues,

Lansargues, Marsillargues, Martignargues,

Massillargues-Attuech, Mauressargues,

Montignargues, Olargues, Parignargues,

Saint-André-d'Olérargues, Sainte-Croix-de-Quintillargues,

Saint-Jean-de-Ceyrargues, Saint-Vincent-de-Barbeyrargues,

Saint-Vincent-d'Olargues, Saturargues,

Sauteyrargues, Savignargues, Souvignargues,

Sussargues, Valergues, Vallérargues,

Vendargues, Vérargues