Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux (; oc, label=

Vivaro-Alpine Vivaro-Alpine ( oc, vivaroalpenc, vivaroaupenc) is a variety of Occitan language, Occitan spoken in southeastern France (namely, around the Dauphiné area) and northwestern Italy (the Occitan Valleys of Piedmont and Liguria). There is also a sma ...

, Sant Pau de Tricastin), sometimes known as -en-Tricastin, is a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

, an administrative region, in the

Drôme Drôme (; Occitan: ''Droma''; Arpitan: ''Drôma'') is the southernmost department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. Named after the river Drôme, it had a population of 516,762 as of 2019.

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

in southeastern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Name

The settlement is attested as ''Augusta Tricastinorum'' (1st c. AD), ''Trikastinoi ōn polis Noiomagos'' (2nd c.), ''Sancti Pauli vel Sancti Restituti Trigastinensi'' (993), ''in Tricastrinensi'' (1132), ''civitate Tricastrina'' (1136), ''San Paul'' (ca. 1180), ''Sanctum Paulum Tricastinensem'' (1338), and ''Sainct Pol Trois Chasteaux'' (1545). The

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

derives from the name of the ancient Gallic tribe that dwelled in the region, the

Tricastini The Tricastini were a small Gallic tribe dwelling in the modern Tricastin region, near present-day Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux, during the Iron Age and the Roman period. The Tricastini were probably one of the most ancient Celtic tribes of Gaul. ...

. The insertion of an

epenthetic In phonology, epenthesis (; Greek language, Greek ) means the addition of one or more sounds to a word, especially in the beginning syllable (''prothesis (linguistics), prothesis'') or in the ending syllable (''paragoge'') or in-between two syll ...

''r'' that changed ''Tricastini'' to ''Tricastrini'', which is attested by the 12th century, caused a

semantic Semantics (from grc, σημαντικός ''sēmantikós'', "significant") is the study of reference, meaning, or truth. The term can be used to refer to subfields of several distinct disciplines, including philosophy, linguistics and comput ...

reinterpretation of the name, leading eventually to the

modern French French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in No ...

''Trois-Châteaux'', meaning 'three-castles' (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''Tria-Castra'').

Population

Sport

It was the start of stage 16 of the

2011 Tour de France The 2011 Tour de France was the 98th edition of the race. It started on 2 July at the Passage du Gois and ended on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on 24 July. The cyclists competed in 21 stages over 23 days, covering a distance of . The route en ...

, to Gap, as well as the start city for

stage 13 ''Stage 13'' is a 30-minute American anthology television series produced and directed and hosted by Wyllis Cooper Wyllis Oswald Cooper (January 26, 1899 – June 22, 1955) was an American writer and producer. He is best remembered for cre ...

of the

2012 Tour de France The 2012 Tour de France was the 99th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started in the Belgian city of Liège on 30 June and finished on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on 22 July. The Tour consisted of 21 stages, inc ...

, to

Cap d'Agde Cap d'Agde () is a seaside resort on France's Mediterranean coast. It is located in the commune of Agde, in the Hérault department within the region of Occitanie. Cap d'Agde was planned by architect Jean Le Couteur as part of one of the large ...

Twin towns — sister cities

Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux is twinned with: *

Eltmann Eltmann () is a town of 5256 inhabitants (in the Haßberge district of Lower Franconia, in Bavaria, Germany. It lies on the south bank of the Main river, west of Bamberg. It comprises the town proper, and its outlying districts, Dippach, Eschen ...

, Germany (1975) *

Trecate Trecate is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Novara in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about east of Novara. It harbors a major refinery complex for fuels and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), serving ...

, Italy (2003)

References

External links