Etymology
Originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or 'realm of the Franks'.[13] The name of the Franks is related to the English word frank ('free'): the latter stems from the Old French franc ('free, noble, sincere'), and ultimately from the Medieval Latin word francus ('free, exempt from service; freeman, Frank"', a generalisation of the tribal name that emerged as a Late Latin borrowing of the reconstructed Frankish endonym *Frank.[14][15] It has been suggested that the meaning 'free' was adopted because, after the conquest of Gaul, only Franks were free of taxation,[16] or more generally because they had the status of freemen in contrast to servants or slaves.[15] The etymology of *Frank is uncertain. It is traditionally derived from the Proto-Germanic word *frankōn, which translates as 'javelin' or 'lance' (the throwing axe of the Franks was known as the francisca),[17] although these weapons may have been named because of their use by the Franks, not the other way around.[15]
In English, 'France' is pronounced /fræns/ FRANSS in American English and /frɑːns/ FRAHNSS or /fræns/ FRANSS in British English. The pronunciation with /ɑː/ is mostly confined to accents with the trap-bath split such as Received Pronunciation, though it can be also heard in some other dialects such as Cardiff English.[18]
History
Pre-6th century BC
The oldest traces of archaic humans in what is now France date from approximately 1.8 million years ago.[19] Neanderthals occupied the region into the Upper Paleolithic era but were slowly replaced by Homo sapiens around 35,000 BC.[20] This period witnessed the emergence of cave painting in the Dordogne and Pyrenees, including at Lascaux, dated to c. 18,000 BC.[19] At the end of the Last Glacial Period (10,000 BC), the climate became milder;[19] from approximately 7,000 BC, this part of Western Europe entered the Neolithic era, and its inhabitants became sedentary.
After demographic and agricultural development between the 4th and 3rd millennia BC, metallurgy appeared, initially working gold, copper and bronze, then later iron.[21] France has numerous megalithic sites from the Neolithic, including the Carnac stones site (approximately 3,300 BC).
Antiquity (6th century BC – 5th century AD)
In 600 BC, Ionian Greeks from Phocaea founded the colony of Massalia (present-day Marseille).[22] Celtic tribes penetrated parts of eastern and northern France, spreading through the rest of the country between the 5th and 3rd century BC.[23] Around 390 BC, the Gallic chieftain Brennus and his troops made their way to Roman Italy, defeated the Romans in the Battle of the Allia, and besieged and ransomed Rome.[24] This left Rome weakened, and the Gauls continued to harass the region until 345 BC when they entered into a peace treaty.[25] But the Romans and the Gauls remained adversaries for centuries.[26]
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Around 125 BC, the south of Gaul was conquered by the Romans, who called this region Provincia Nostra ("Our Province"), which evolved into Provence in French.[27] Julius Caesar conquered the remainder of Gaul and overcame a revolt by Gallic chieftain Vercingetorix in 52 BC.[28] Gaul was divided by Augustus into provinces[29] and many cities were founded during the Gallo-Roman period, including Lugdunum (present-day Lyon), the capital of the Gauls.[29] In 250–290 AD, Roman Gaul suffered a crisis with its fortified borders attacked by barbarians.[30] The situation improved in the first half of the 4th century, a period of revival and prosperity.[31] In 312, Emperor Constantine I converted to Christianity. Christians, who had been persecuted, increased.[32] But from the 5th century, the Barbarian Invasions resumed.[33] Teutonic tribes invaded the region, the Visigoths settling in the southwest, the Burgundians along the Rhine River Valley, and the Franks in the north.[34]