Southern France
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 Southern France, based on a split along the 45th parallel | |
| Country | France |
Southern France, also known as the south of France or colloquially in French as le Midi,[1][2] is a defined geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin,[3] Spain, the Mediterranean Sea and Italy. It includes southern Nouvelle-Aquitaine in the west, Occitanie in the centre, the southern parts of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes in the northeast, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur in the southeast, as well as the island of Corsica in the southeast. Southern France is generally considered part of southern Europe because of its association with the Mediterranean Sea.
The term Midi derives from mi ('middle') and di ('day') in Old French, comparable to the term Mezzogiorno to indicate southern Italy, Miazăzi which is a synonym for south in Romanian, or meridional which is a synonym for the south direction in Spanish. The time of midday was synonymous with south because in France, as in the rest of the Northern Hemisphere north of the Tropic of Cancer, the sun is in the south at noon. The synonymy has existed since Middle French as well; meridien could refer to both midday and south. The Midi is considered to start at Valence, hence the saying à Valence le Midi commence ("At Valence the Midi starts").
- ^ Lyons, Declan (18 February 2009). Cycling guide to the Canal du Midi, Languedoc, France, Europe. Midpoint Trade Books. ISBN 978-1-85284-559-9.
- ^ Passy, Paul (1904). International French–English and English–French dictionary. Hinds, Noble & Eldredge.
- ^ Louis Papy, Le midi atlantique, Atlas et géographie de la France moderne, Flammarion, Paris, 1984.