Toponymy
The name of the province appears for the first time in history in 785 AD. Following the partition of Aquitaine into nine counties, as decreed by Charlemagne in 778, the name of Aunis, written as Latin: Pagus Alnensis, appeared in the last will and testament of Count Roger.
But the etymology of the name has been given many different interpretations and folk etymologies that are still used today. Even so, some people think "The most probable origin is that the town of Aulnay (Aulnay en Saintongeais), which was more important in the Middle Ages than it is today. Aulnay marked the frontier between Santones and Pictones. Little by little the province shrank until the frontier was situated a long way from Aulnay. It is the smallest province in France". This interpretation does not pass muster, because there is absolutely no connection between the original names of Aulnay which, in Latin, were written Odenaco (in 951) or Audeniaco (in 970), so that Aunis, with its older name as seen above, was written Pagus Alensis or instead Pagus Alienensis. Even now, there is no consensus among historians and etymologists.
Etymologists have proposed three possible interpretations which deserve consideration:
- the name should be linked to the forest, because the French: aulne (English: Alder) was very common in mediaeval times; the province became the French: pays des aulnes ("Alder Region").
- the etymology must be interpreted as being cognate with that of an ancient barbaric people. According to some historians, Aunis was populated by a tribe of Alani, who invaded Gaul in 406 AD. Delayant in his time described the idea that the Alani would have settled in Aunis: "Their attacks were at first aimed at looting rather than conquest. The Vandals had merely passed through. We must think of their stragglers. Some of them, turned back by the Visigoths, hid (so it is said) in this refuge between Sèvre and the Charente River, and their name furnished one of numerous etymologies that have been given to the word Aunis."
- the name of Aunis is related to the eventful history of the town of Châtelaillon in mediaeval times. The first capital of Aunis was in practice Châtelaillon (today Châtelaillon-Plage), designated by its Latin name Castrum Allionis heard as French: château d'Aunis, English: Aunis castle. This last theory has found favour with a large number of historians.
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