Tag Archives: châteaux

Friday’s French – chateaux and castles

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When is a castle not a castle? When it’s a chateau.

Château de Chaumont
Château de Chaumont

The two words have the same Latin origin – castellum, meaning fortress. The transformation from ca to cha in French is very common : cat/chat, cauldron/chaudron, cart/charrette, etc. In château, the “s” has done its usual disappearing act and turned into a circumflex e.g. pasta/pâte, feast/fête, master/maître. Then the “l” has been vocalised which means that it has become a vowel, which is another typical change, witness by camel/chameau and cauldron/chaudron above.

What is generally called a castle in English is actually a château fort in French. Prime examples are Chinon and Angers. Fort means strong and is obviously at the origin of fort/fort and fortress/forteresse. We have our Anglosaxon word stronghold. Châteaux forts had moats/fosses, ramparts/ramparts, towers/tours and keeps/donjons.

Château d'Angers
Château d’Angers

A château does not have to be fortified, nor even be royal, so what can and cannot be described in French as a château is somewhat nebulous.

The châteaux in the Loire Valley, such as Chenonceau, Chaumont and Chambord, were never built to offer protection but they were mostly owned and built by royalty. Others, such as Azay le Rideau and Villandry, were often stately homes built by rich financiers and such like with all the trappings of a château. I guess they could roughly be described as pleasure castles.

Château d'Azay le Rideau
Château d’Azay le Rideau

The plural of château in French is châteaux, but in English you can choose between châteaux and chateaus and there’s no obligation to keep the circumflex or chapeau as it’s often called in French.

There are two other common uses of the word château. In the Bordeaux area (bordeaux wine is written with a small letter, by the way, in both French and English), all vineyards are châteaux whether big or small. The same does not apply to other wine-growing areas in France (but the small letter still applies – champagne from Champagne, burgundy/bourgogne from Burgundy/Bourgogne, chinon from Chinon).

Château d'eau
Château d’eau

Then there is the château d’eau which is a water tower and, to me, is the strangest use of the word. They certainly don’t look like castles. I have to be honest and say that I had never noticed any water towers in Australia but in France, you can’t miss them!

Last, by not least, we have the château de cartes which is our humble house of cards.

Monday’s Travel Photos – the Roof Tops of Chambord

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Fellow Australian Susan from Days in the Claise, who also lives in the Loire Valley, but in the southern part of Touraine, has done a series of posts on Chambord Castle recently. We cycled there several times this summer, you may remember, but didn’t visit the inside. I didn’t think there was much beside the famous double revolution staircase. Intrigued by Susan’s posts, however, I decided to visit as soon as possible. A visit from Australian friend Kathy Standford from Femmes Francophiles and her husband yesterday was the perfect excuse.

Château de Chambord after a summer downpour
Château de Chambord after a summer downpour

All the photos below are all taken from the rooftops, which must be one of the most stunning examples of architecture I’ve ever seen. François I was only 25 when he commissioned the château in 1519. Unfortunately, despite the 2000 workmen, it wasn’t completed in his lifetime and he only stayed there for 72 days out of his 32 years on the throne! He used it as a hunting lodge of course and it was not furnished – he used to travel around with everything he could possible need – including the kitchen sink. But his son, Henri II, and Louis XIV, who also loved hunting, turned it into the château we know today.

Renaissance staircase seen from the rooftops
Renaissance staircase seen from the rooftops
Middle tower over the famous double Revolution staircase
Middle tower over the famous double Revolution staircase
The downpipe is nearly identical to the ones in the Tuileries Gardens!
The downpipe is nearly identical to the ones in the Tuileries Gardens!
The different roofs all fit together in the most intricate way
The different roofs all fit together in the most intricate way
Another elaborate detail
Another elaborate detail

chambord_roof_4 chambord_roof_3 chambord_roof_2 chambord_roof_1 View looking out over the canal

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