What is the origin of the name "Hongrie"?

Today we will explain why the Domaine is called "Hongrie". Well... actually we will just offer a few possible explanations, as we are still not 100% positive about the origin of the name. 

1) "Hongrie" means "Hungary" in French, and our first supposition was that somehow this was linked to the first owner's nationality or perhaps named in souvenir of a war in that country. That interpretation was seemingly corroborated by the fact that a small abandoned cabin near Hongrie is named "Serbie" (Serbia). However, later on we found out that Serbie originated in fact from the gascon (from Gascony) dialect "Serbi", meaning "to serve" and probably used by domestics in the past.

2) The path leading to the entrance was already planted with beautiful oaks when we bought the house, lending it some character. We found out that there was a type of tree named "Hungarian Oak" so we thought it might be why Hongrie was named as such - but none of the existing oaks are Quercus frainetto so this hypothesis was abandoned from lack of evidence.

 

Planche extraite de l'Encyclopédie Diderot et d'Alembert : Tanneur, Travail des Pleins (ou pelains) -1762 © Reproduction Service régional de l'inventaire de Poitou-Charentes / G. Beauvarlet, 2006  

3) The most convincing hypothesis was found when renovating the kitchen. Régis found large holes in the ground, shaped like amphoras: they had been man-made by digging in the clay of the soil beneath the house. There are several of these across the house, as far as we can tell (we did not destroy the whole floor!) and at first this was really puzzling. When Josepha saw them it reminded her of the archaeological course she took on gallo-roman farms where big jars were stored in the soil itself. 

Further research led us to think that Hongrie might have been in the past before the house the location of a tannery: the holes would have been used to treat and dye the skins. 

Some of the tanners were named "Hongrieurs" or "Hongroyeur" as they were tanning so called "leather of Hungary" even if located in Paris.

So this is the origin of "Hongrie" - this location probably used to be a tannery! There was water in the surroundings and the location is a bit apart from the rest of the village, which would have been normal for such a smelly activity. Ask us to see the kitchen "hole" if you visit us, Régis even installed a light bulb so that its size - as an adult can even stand inside it - can be well appreciated.

You can find here some more information about the process of tanning, which can involve oak bark as well.