The
Pays de Caux () is an area in
Normandy occupying the greater part of the
French département of
Seine Maritime in
Haute-Normandie. It is a
chalk plateau to the north of the Seine
Estuary and extending to the
cliffs on the
English Channel coast. In the east, it borders on the Pays de Bray where the
strata below the chalk show through.
Cauchois is a notable dialect of the
Norman language. The Pays de Caux is one of the remaining strongholds of the Norman language outside the
Cotentin.
The principal settlements are
Le Havre,
Dieppe,
Fécamp,
Yvetot and
Étretat.
Etymology
In the
Norman language caux means
lime,
calcium carbonate. In
French, for comparison, the word is
chaux (the French 'ch' being pronounced as an English 'sh'. Example: Caux dialect
candelle, English
candle, French
chandelle ). The name of the neighbouring
Pays de Bray comes from a
Gaulish word for mud. They appear to be so named as their soils distinguish them; the one of sticky clay, the other on dry chalk, but that is only a legend. In fact, according to something common in the former Gaul, the name derives from the Celtic tribe that lived here in ancient time: the Caletes (or
Caleti. It means "the hard or the courageous people", breton
kaled hard, welsh
caled hard ) and this land was their territory. They are sometimes considered as
Belgae or as
Armoricans.
Geography
The Pays de Caux is a plateau of Upper Cretaceous chalk, like that which forms the North and South
Down in southern England....
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