Midi

   Litterally speaking, Midi means midday, but the word has come also to designate the south of France, i.e. the part over which the sun stands at midday, when seen from a northern perspective. As a spatial concept, the word Midi is very vague, and there is no specific point at which a traveller from the north enters the Midi. For some it is a small area, just including the Mediterranean coastal plain and its direct hinterland, a region characterised by mediterranean climate and vegetation. For others it is anywhere south of the level of Valence, or even south of a line betwenLyon and Bordeaux. The word is included in the name of the region Midi Pyrénées (see below), which thus has a strong claim to be considered as part of the Midi. Alternatively, the Midi is perceived as equivalent to the historic area of Occitania, the southern half of France where people spoke dialects of Occitanian French rather than dialects of the standard French of the Ile de France.