 | This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Barr" placename element – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (March 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Barr- is a pre-Indo-European linguistic root meaning 'wooded hill', 'natural barrier'.
In addition to the common noun bar, it explains many place names as:
- Barr, commune of Alsace, France
- Bar, commune of Corrèze, Limousin France
- Bar-sur-Aube and Bar-sur-Seine, communes of Aube, Champagne, France
- Bar-le-Duc, commune of Lorraine, France
but not Le Bar-sur-Loup, a former Albarn > Aubarn.
In Alps, the word applies to rocky escarpments:
- la Barre des Écrins is a mountain in French Alps.
This root should not be mistaken for the Basque root Bar- / ibar 'valley'.
Notes and references
- Éric Vial, Les noms de villes et de village, Belin, 1983, ISBN 2-7011-0476-9