Mortagne () is a
commune in the
Vosges department in
Grand Est
Grand Est (; ) is an Regions of France, administrative region in northeastern France. It superseded three former administrative regions, Alsace, Champagne-Ardenne and Lorraine, on 1 January 2016 under the provisional name of Alsace-Champagne-A ...
in northeastern
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 ...
.
It shares its name with the
eponymous river which borders the commune on its south-eastern side.
Geography
The commune is positioned on undulating lower slopes of the
Vosges Mountains
The Vosges ( , ; ; Franconian (linguistics), Franconian and ) is a range of medium mountains in Eastern France, near its France–Germany border, border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the bor ...
. The settlements in the commune are dispersed across various hamlets that include l'Orme, le Bout du Dessus, le Bout du Milieu and le Bout du Dessous. The commune is crossed by the little River
Mossoux, a tributary of the
Mortagne which itself feeds into the
Meurthe. Much of the valley here remains wild and uncultivated: the last farm on the route to the forest is called 'The End of the World'.
History
Etymology
The name of 'Mortagne' in the
Vosges département is believed to come from the
Celtic name of the river. Earlier spellings have included 'Mortesna', 'Mortennam', and a
patois
''Patois'' (, same or ) is speech or language that is considered nonstandard, although the term is not formally defined in linguistics. As such, ''patois'' can refer to pidgins, creoles, dialects or vernaculars, but not commonly to jargon or sl ...
version, 'Moutone'.
For many years there was a widespread belief that the name was of Roman origin, related to the name 'Mauritania', being a reference to an encampment of a
Moorish regiment during the
closing centuries of the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...
period: this belief is now discredited.
See also
*
Communes of the Vosges department
References
Communes of Vosges (department)
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