Authie () is a commune in the Calvados department in the

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

of north-western

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. 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''.

Geography

Authie is located some north-west of the centre of

Caen Caen (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune inland from the northwestern coast of France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Calvados (department), Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inha ...

. 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.Google Maps
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Toponymy

The name of the town is attested in the forms ''Alteium'' in 1227 and ''Auteya'' in 1264. 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. 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. François de Beaurepaire sees a Gallic (Celtic) element in the ''alt'' in Authou. The Gallic term ''Attegia'' was recognized by Xavier Delamarre in

Atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

-type names - e.g. ''Athis'' in the sense of "cabin or hut". 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"). 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 becomes and then an Amuïssement or attenuation of �� a recurrent phenomenon in phonetics. The same author explains that ''

Arthies Arthies () is a commune in the Val-d'Oise department in Île-de-France in northern France. It is located in the . Geography Arthies is located approximately 50 km from Paris. Population See also *Communes of the Val-d'Oise department ...

'' (''Artegiae'' 680) may come from ''*Are-tegia'' which is a possible solution for Authie, knowing that regularly becomes before a consonant. The name ''Altavilla'' is either a medieval romanization of a place named ''Hauteville'' as in Hauteville in

Manche Manche (, ; Norman language, Norman: ) is a coastal Departments of France, French ''département'' in Normandy (administrative region), Normandy on the English Channel, which is known as , literally "the sleeve", in French. Manche is bordered by ...

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) 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

Twinning

Authie has twinning associations with: * North Baddesley (United Kingdom) since 1993.

Demography

The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Althavillais'' or ''Althavillaises'' in French.

Culture and heritage

Civil heritage

The commune has one site that is registered as an historical monument: *An Ornamental Garden in the Château of Authie (18th century) *The Monument to the Canadians dedicated to the victims of the taking of the village in 1944

Religious heritage

The commune has two religious buildings and structures that are registered as historical monuments: *The Church of Saint Vigor (12th century) *A Cemetery Cross (18th century) The Church contains one item that is registered as an historical object: *A Bronze Bell (1704)Ministry of Culture, Palissy File:FranceNormandieAuthieEglise.jpg, Saint Vigor church File:Authie église Saint-Vigor portail.JPG, Saint-Vigor Portal File:FranceNormandieAuthieEglisePortailSudTympan.jpg, Detail on the Portal File:Authie église Saint-Vigor détail voussures.JPG, A detail on the church File:Authie église Saint-Vigor voûte.JPG, The Vault in the church File:Authie église Saint-Vigor nef.JPG, The

Nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

of the church File:FranceNormandieAuthieCroixCimetiere.jpg, The Cemetery Cross

References

{{authority control Communes of Calvados (department)