At 1:09:47 PM on Monday, June 30, 2008, tgpedersen wrote:
>>> Vesontio, Vesuntio, Visontio, Bizantia, Bisontium,
>>> Bisunzium, Besantio, Vesonticorum, Vesontiensium od.
>>> Crisopolinorum civitas, Besantio,
>>> Besançon, Stadt, Frankr. (Doubs)
>> D&R: from the pre-IE *ves- 'mountain' (cf. mounts <Viso> and
>> <Vésuve>) and the pre-Celt. suffix <-unt-> followed by the
>> suffix <-ionem>, attracted to Low Latin <bison, bisontis>,
>> whence the arms of the city.
> Which presumably is a bison, also known as wisent. Hm.
It turns out that it isn't and apparently never has been, so
I've no idea what D&R were thinking. The arms are 'D'or à
l'aigle éployée de sable soutenant de ses serres deux
colonnes de gueules brochant sur les ailes' ('Or, an eagle
displayed sable holding in its claws two antique columns
gules surmounting its wings') and may be seen at
<
http://www.ngw.nl/int/fra/b/besancon.htm>, among many other
places. The columns are found as early as 1276 and allude
to the Roman ruins; the eagle alludes to its status as a
free Imperial city since 1043.
<
http://www.heraldica.org/topics/france/frcitdep.htm>
It's conceivable that the gold field is a play on OFr
<besans> ~ <besant>: the German name is <Bisanz>.
Brian