Name of France

The name France comes from Latin Francia ('land of the Franks').

Originally it applied to the whole Empire of the Franks, extending from southern France to eastern Germany. Modern France is still called Frankreich in German and similar names in some other Germanic languages (such as Frankrijk in Dutch), which means "Frank Reich", the Realm of the Franks.

Before being named France, the land was called Gaul (Latin: Gallia; French: Gaule). This name continued to be used even after the beginning of the reign of the Franks' Kings Clovis I, Charles Martel, Pepin the Short, and Charlemagne. In fact, for as long as the cultural elites of Europe used Latin predominantly, the name Gallia continued to be used alongside the name France. In English usage, the words Gaul and Gaulish are used synonymously with Latin Gallia, Gallus and Gallicus. However the similarity of the names is probably coincidental; the English words are borrowed from French Gaule and Gaulois, which appear to have been borrowed themselves from Germanic walha-, the usual word for the non-Germanic-speaking peoples (Celtic-speaking and Latin-speaking indiscriminately) and the source for Welsh in English. The Germanic w is regularly rendered as gu / g in French (cf. guerre = war, garder = ward, Guillaume = William), and the diphthong au is the regular outcome of al before a following consonant (cf. cheval ~ chevaux). Gaule or Gaulle can hardly be derived from Latin Gallia, since g would become j before a (cf. gamba > jambe), and the diphthong au would be incomprehensible; the regular outcome of Latin Gallia would have been * Jaille in French.

Today, in modern French, the word Gaule is only used in a historical context. The only current use of the word is in the title of the leader of the French bishops, the archbishop of Lyon, whose official title is Primate of the Gauls (Primat des Gaules). Gaul is in the plural in the title, reflecting the three Gallic entities identified by the Romans (Celtica, Belgica, and Aquitania). The adjective gaulois (Gallic) is still sometimes used when a French person wants to stress some idiosyncrasies of the French people entrenched in history, such as nos ancêtres les Gaulois ("our ancestors the Gauls"), a phrase sometimes used in French when one wants to assert his own identity. During the Third Republic, the authorities often referred to notre vieille nation gauloise ("our old Gallic nation"), a case in which the adjective gaulois is used with a positive connotation. The word gallicisme is used sometimes in linguistic to express a specific form to the French language. In English, the word Gaul is never used in a modern context. The adjective Gallic is sometimes used to refer to French people, occasionally in a derisive and critical way, such as "Gallic pride". The Coq Gaulois (Gallic rooster in English) is also a national symbol of France, as for the French Football Federation. Astérix le Gaulois (Asterix, the Gaul) is a popular series of French comic books, following the exploits of a village of indomitable Gauls.

In Greek, France is still known as Γαλλία (Gallia). In Breton, meanwhile, the word Gall means "French", and France is Bro C'hall through Breton initial mutation; the second most common family name in Brittany is Le Gall, which is thought to indicate descendants of the inhabitants of Armorica from before the Bretons came from Britain, literally meaning "the Gaul". The word can be used to refer to the French nationality, speakers of French and/or Gallo; an archaic word sense also indicated the generic "foreigner"; the derivative galleg means "French" as an adjective and the French language as a noun. In Irish, meanwhile, the term gall originally also referred to the inhabitants of Gaul, but in the ninth century it was repurposed as "generic foreigner" and used to refer to Scandinavian invaders; it was used later in the twelfth century for the Anglo-Normans.

Under the reign of the Franks' Kings Clovis I, Charles Martel, Pepin the Short, and Charlemagne, a country that included most of modern France and modern Germany was known as Kingdom of Franks or Francia. At the Treaty of Verdun in 843, the Frankish Empire was divided in three parts: West Francia (Francia Occidentalis), Middle Francia and East Francia (Francia Orientalis).

The rulers of Francia Orientalis, who soon claimed the imperial title and wanted to reunify the Frankish Empire, dropped the name Francia Orientalis and called their realm the Holy Roman Empire (see History of Germany). The history of the Franconian Empire lives on today in place names such as Frankfurt or Franconia (Franken in German). The kings of Francia Occidentalis successfully opposed this claim and managed to preserve Francia Occidentalis as an independent kingdom, distinct from the Holy Roman Empire.

Since the name Francia Orientalis had disappeared, there arose the habit to refer to Francia Occidentalis as Francia only, from which the word France is derived. The French state has been in continuous existence since 843 (except for a brief interruption in 885–887), with an unbroken line of heads of states since the first king of Francia Occidentalis (Charles the Bald) to the current president of the French Republic (Emmanuel Macron). Notably, in German, France is still called Frankreich, which literally means "Reich (empire) of the Franks". In order to distinguish it from the Frankish Empire of Charlemagne, France is called Frankreich, while the Frankish Empire is called Frankenreich.