The Saison () or Uhaitz Handia, is a left tributary of the

Gave d'Oloron The Gave d'Oloron is a river of south-western France near the border with Spain. It takes its name from the city Oloron-Sainte-Marie, where it is formed from the rivers Gave d'Aspe and Gave d'Ossau. It joins the Gave de Pau in Peyrehorade to fo ...

river in the

French Basque Country The French Basque Country, or Northern Basque Country ( eu, Iparralde (), french: Pays basque, es, País Vasco francés) is a region lying on the west of the French department of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. Since 1 January 2017, it constitu ...

, (

Pyrénées-Atlantiques Pyrénées-Atlantiques (; Gascon Occitan: ''Pirenèus Atlantics''; eu, Pirinio Atlantiarrak or ) is a department in the southwest corner of France and of the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Named after the Pyrenees mountain range and the Atlant ...

), Southwest of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. Its general south to north direction provides the axis for the former French province of

Soule Soule (Basque: Zuberoa; Zuberoan/ Soule Basque: Xiberoa or Xiberua; Occitan: ''Sola'') is a former viscounty and French province and part of the present-day Pyrénées-Atlantiques ''département''. It is divided into two cantons of the arrond ...

. It is also known as the Gave de Mauléon. It is long, including its upper courses Zurkaitzegiko erreka and Gave de Larrau.

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 Autevielle-Saint-Martin-Bideren (; oc, Autivièla, Sent Martin e Vidèren; eu, Autile) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of south-western France. Geography Autevielle-Saint-Martin-Bideren i ...

, downstream from Sauveterre-de-Béarn.

Départements and towns

The Saison flows completely within the

department. The riverside towns are

Tardets-Sorholus Tardets-Sorholus (; eu, Atharratze-Sorholüze)ATHARRATZE-SORHOLÜZE

and

Mauléon-Licharre Mauléon-Licharre (; , Occitan: Maulion e Lisharra), or simply Mauléon, is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in southwestern France. It is the capital of the Soule (''Zuberoa'') historical Basque province. It is home to t ...

Name

The

vernacular A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...

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: * Aphanize: name of tributaries from Montory (''Aphanize'') and from Haux (''Aphanixe''). * Aphahura: leading to the following names: ''Aphaura'' (from Aroue and from Arrast,also graphied ''Aphanire'' following Paul Raymond, ''Dictionnaire topographique du département des Basses-Pyrénées'', 1863. ''Aphura'' (from Alçay), ''Aphuhura'' (from

Aussurucq Aussurucq (; ) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of south-western France. The inhabitants are known as ''Altzürükütar''.

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

Main tributaries

References

Rivers of France Rivers of Pyrénées-Atlantiques Rivers of Nouvelle-Aquitaine {{France-river-stub