Talk:Bettencourt

Etymological account very unclear
"The place-name element -court (courtyard, courtyard of a farm, farm) is typical of the French provinces, where the Frankish settlements formed an important part of the local population." I suspect there's at least a confusingly misplaced comma here, and what's intended is the provinces in which that's the case, rather than a statement that's true of all the provinces. But the confusion is increased by the second part actually being true all over France, all if it having been part of the Frankish Empire -- hence the name, really. So my guess from the accompanying map is that the claim here is that these areas were Franconian in a narrower sense -- as in the Duchy of Franconia, or linguistically. Though that's yet again pretty muddled seeming, as -court (-cort) isn't itself Germanic at all, but Romance, so we're left further guessing why such a calque happens in the northeast, but not elsewhere. If all else fails I'll try to clarify on these lines, but better if someone with some actual knowledge in this area -- or better yet a decent source -- rows in. 109.255.211.6 (talk) 02:19, 2 March 2021 (UTC)