Golf du Lion

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The Golfe du Lion in the western Mediterranean

The Golfe du Lion (German "Löwengolf") is a bay on the French Mediterranean coast that extends between the Spanish Cape Creus ( Cap de Creus near Cadaqués ) and the French city of Toulon . The coasts mainly belong to the French regions of Occitania and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur , a short section in the southwest of the Spanish region of Catalonia .

The Golfe du Lion is about 90 m deep at its deepest point. It is a busy body of water due to the extensive tourism and the Marseille Europort , the largest Mediterranean port.

etymology

The name can be documented from the 13th century ( Middle Latin sinus Leonis and mare Leonis ). The naming is possibly based on the fact that seafarers and fishermen experienced the waters as dangerous as a lion because of the strong winds .

Several sources unanimously suggest this word origin: the dictionary of the French place names of Deroy and Mulon , Mistral's dictionary of the Provencal language, the famous Encyclopédie by Diderot and d'Alembert as well as several Middle Latin texts since the 13th century. According to these sources (especially Deroy & Mulon and the Encyclopédie) the name has nothing to do with the city of Lyon , which is also far from the sea.

In Roman antiquity the bay was called sinus Gallicus (" Gallic Gulf").

geography

Most of the coast is flat. There are lagoons and salt marshes , especially in the Camargue area . There are steep cliffs on the Côte Bleue and the Calanques between Marseille and Cassis. Characteristic of the coastal area is the cold and rough fall wind Mistral .

Numerous rivers flow into the Gulf, including Tech , Agly , Orb , Têt , Hérault , Vidourle and, as the largest, the Rhône .

Places on the Golfe du Lion

The largest ports on the Golfe du Lion are:

Other larger or better known places on or in the immediate vicinity of the coast of the Golfe du Lion:

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Louis Michel (1964): La langue des pêcheurs du golfe du Lion , Paris: D'Artrey
  2. ^ Louis Deroy, & Marianne Mulon (1994): Dictionnaire des noms de lieux , Paris: Le Robert
  3. Frederic Mistral (1878–1886): Lou Tresor dóu Felibrige ou dictionnaire provençal-français , Aix-en-Provence: Edisud (1979), sv gou (golf), lioun (lion).
  4. Encyclopédie ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers ( Memento of the original of June 8, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (French)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / portail.atilf.fr
  5. Supplément à l'Encyclopédie, Sinus Gallicus (French)
  6. Mémoires pour l'histoire naturelle de la province de Languedoc (French)

Web links

Commons : Gulf of Lion  - Collection of images, videos and audio files