| Authie | |
| Commune Status: | Commune |
| Arrondissement: | Caen |
| Canton: | Caen-2 |
| Insee: | 14030 |
| Postal Code: | 14280 |
| Mayor: | Olivier Simar[1] |
| Term: | 2020 - 2026 |
| Intercommunality: | CU Caen Mer |
| Coordinates: | 49.2067°N -0.4306°W |
| Elevation M: | 65 |
| Elevation Min M: | 60 |
| Elevation Max M: | 73 |
| Area Km2: | 3.21 |
Authie (in French oti/) is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region of north-western France.
The commune has been awarded one flower by the National Council of Towns and Villages in Bloom in the Competition of cities and villages in Bloom.[2]
Authie is located some 6km (04miles) 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.[3]
The name of the town is attested in the forms Alteium in 1227 and Auteya in 1264.[4]
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.[5]
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.[6] François de Beaurepaire sees a Gallic (Celtic) element in the alt in Authou.[7] The Gallic term Attegia was recognized by Xavier Delamarre in Atheist-type names - e.g. Athis in the sense of "cabin or hut".[8]
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").[9]
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.
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.
List of Successive Mayors[10]
| From | To | Name | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | 2020 | Joël Pizy | |
| 2020 | 2026 | Olivier Simar |
See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in France. Authie has twinning associations with:[11]
The inhabitants of the commune are known as Althavillais or Althavillaises in French.[12]
The commune has one site that is registered as an historical monument:
The commune has two religious buildings and structures that are registered as historical monuments:
The Church contains one item that is registered as an historical object: