Authie, Calvados

Geography

Authie is located some 6 km north-west of the centre of Caen. 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.

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-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 [g] becomes [j] and then an Amuïssement or attenuation of [j][∅], a recurrent phenomenon in phonetics.

The same author explains that Arthies (Artegiae 680) may come from *Are-tegia which is a possible solution for Authie, knowing that [r] regularly becomes [l] before a consonant.

The name Altavilla is either a medieval romanization of a place named Hauteville as in Hauteville in Manche 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:

• UK North Baddesley (United Kingdom) since 1993. It is shared with the commune of Carpiquet.

Demography

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

|1793 |650 |1800 |382 |1806 |565 |1821 |571 |1831 |466 |1836 |625 |1841 |623 |1846 |630 |1851 |593 |1856 |567 |1861 |500 |1866 |453 |1872 |434 |1876 |425 |1881 |369 |1886 |382 |1891 |394 |1896 |358 |1901 |361 |1906 |313 |1911 |262 |1921 |266 |1926 |294 |1931 |302 |1936 |348 |1946 |202 |1954 |348 |1962 |414 |1968 |514 |1975 |571 |1982 |645 |1990 |780 |1999 |983 |2007 |1349 |2012 |1487 |2017 |1595

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)

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

References

References

1. (13 September 2022). "Répertoire national des élus: les maires". data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises.
2. [http://www.cnvvf.fr/les_villes_et_village_fleuris-47.html Authie in the Competition for Towns and Villages in Bloom] {{webarchive. link. (December 10, 2014 {{in lang). fr
3. [https://www.google.com/maps/place/Authie/@49.2048747,-0.4246327,2977m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x480a5cabd9c51e49:0x40c14484fbcfc70?hl=en Google Maps]
4. [[Albert Dauzat]] and [[Charles Rostaing]], ''Etymological Dictionary of place names in France'', Librairie Guénégaud Paris 6th edition, 1979, p. 39a. {{in lang. fr
5. Albert Dauzat and Charles Rostaing, ''op. cit.''
6. René Lepelley, ''Etymological Dictionary of commune names in Normandy'', Charles Corlet éditions PUC 1994, p. 54b - 55a. {{ISBN. 978-2-905461-80-3 {{in lang. fr
7. ''The names of communes and old parishes in Eure'', A. and J. Picard, François de Beaurepaire, preface by Marcel Baudot, 1981, Paris, 221 pages, {{ISBN. 2-7084-0067-3, {{OCLC. 9675154, p. 56 {{in lang. fr
8. Xavier Delamarre, ''Dictionary of the Gallic language'', éditions Errance 2003, p. 59. {{in lang. fr
9. Xavier Delamarre, ''op. cit.'' {{in lang. fr
10. {{Cassini-Ehess. 32998. Saint-Louet-près-Authie
11. fr
12. [https://pastel.diplomatie.gouv.fr/cncdext/dyn/public/atlas/rechercheAtlasFrance.html National Commission for Decentralised cooperation] {{in lang. fr
13. "North Baddesley Twinning Association". Hampshire County Council.
14. [https://www.habitants.fr/calvados-14 Le nom des habitants du 14 - Calvados], habitants.fr
15. {{Cassini-Ehess. 1973. Authie
16. [https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/4515315?geo=COM-14030#ancre-POP_T1 Population en historique depuis 1968], INSEE
17. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée {{Mérimée. IA80000395. IA80000395 Ornamental Garden in the Château of Authie {{in lang. fr
18. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée {{Mérimée. PA00111024. PA00111024 Church of Saint Vigor {{in lang. fr{{Camera
19. Ministry of Culture, Mérimée {{Mérimée. PA00111023. PA00111023 Cemetery Cross {{in lang. fr{{Camera
20. Ministry of Culture, Palissy {{Palissy. PM80000272. PM80000272 Bronze bell {{in lang. fr