Southern France (or the south of France), colloquially known as le Midi, is defined geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin, Spain, the Mediterranean, and Italy. The Midi includes:
- Aquitaine
- Midi-Pyrénées
- Languedoc-Roussillon
- Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
- Corsica
- Rhône-Alpes (the Southern parts)
- Poitou-Charentes (the Southern parts)
This area corresponds in large part to Occitania; that to say, the territory in which Occitan (French: langue d'oc) — as distinct from the langues d'oïl of northern France — was historically the dominant language. The regions of Auvergne and Limousin are also a part of Occitania but are not normally referred to as southern France.
The term Midi derives from mi (middle) and di (day) in Old French; compare Mezzogiorno, the south of Italy. The time of midday was synonymous with the direction of south because in France, as in all of the Northern Hemisphere, the sun is in the south at noon. The synonymy existed in Middle French as well, where meridien can refer to both midday and south.
Read more about Southern France: Films Set in The South of France
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—Angelina Grimké (1805–1879)
“But as some silly young men returning from France affect a broken English, to be thought perfect in the French language; so his Lordship, I think, to seem a perfect understander of the unintelligible language of the Schoolmen, pretends an ignorance of his mother-tongue. He talks here of command and counsel as if he were no Englishman, nor knew any difference between their significations.”
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