16.31 - Small Words, Long French Histories
FRANCE AS IT HAPPENS— Fourme, before it was fromage, a village Paris swallowed whole, and a valley shaped by faith and wine.
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Bonjour mes ami(e)s !
It’s wonderful to have you back here with me today. Bienvenue !
In this newsletter, you’ll find these wonderful fresh articles taking you to France beyond the cliché.
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À bientôt !
Warmly,
Judy - 8.8.2026
1. MyFrenchLife™ Magazine new articles
“There are many talented contributors to MyFrenchLife Magazine and I thank all of you for sharing your experiences with us in such an engaging manner.
You take us right across France & deep into many worm-holes. We delight in discovering
and learning more about France beyond the cliché”
Merci
Judy
Our list of valued Contributors →
A reminder that ‘The Writers Room’ now resides here →
a) Fourme d’Ambert: The wonder of Fromage – unveiling one French cheese at a time
by Emily Monaco
“Once upon a time, according to Aurélien Vorger, director of the Groupement d’employeurs des AOP Persillés in France’s formerly volcanic Auvergne region, fourme was another word for cheese.”
Fourme comes from Latin, he explains, which comes from the Greek for ‘to form.’ But bit by bit, we got the word fourme, then fourmage, which became fromage in modern French.”
“A fourme, then, is merely the word for a local cheese, often named, he asserts, not for where it was made, but for the nearest market, where it was sold. But these days, Fourme d’Ambert is far more than the cheese sold in the market town of Ambert…” writes Emily Monaco.
b) Rue de Vaugirard: Paris’s Longest Street Remembers a Vanished Village
by Pierre Guernier
Paris’s longest street, stretching over four kilometres, Rue de Vaugirard began life as a simple road leading to the medieval village of Vaugirard. The name itself is a contraction of “Val Girard”, the valley of an abbot named Girard, who founded a monastery nearby.
Over time, the village was absorbed into…” writes Pierre Guernier.
c) The Loire Valley Uncorked: Wine Missions, Saints, Soldiers and Sips
by Eveline Chartier
Learn about key characters influencing the Loire Valley as a wine region. From the saints who shaped the region’s development to one of today’s importers, this diverse region has much to offer.” writes Eveline Chartier.
→The Loire River Runs Thru’ It
→Mary Taylor and her Anjou, Loire wine
Read the full article and sources→
2. Merci mille fois
“Thank you for subscribing to ‘le Bulletin’, the newsletter of MyFrenchLife™ Magazine.”
Judy MacMahon
Merci mille fois d’être ici, mes ami(e)s. Thanks for being here.
This week, these three MyFrenchLife contributors went looking in the small print of French words and French streets, and found history sitting there quietly, waiting to be asked about.
→Emily Monaco chased fourme back past fromage to a Greek word for shape. →Pierre Guernier walked Rue de Vaugirard and found a whole medieval village folded inside its name.
→Eveline Chartier followed the Loire through the saints, soldiers, and vignerons who built it into a wine region worth arguing about.
Three writers, three threads, one France that keeps rewarding the second look.
And that, perhaps, is FRANCE AS IT HAPPENS this week.
Did any of these catch you off guard?
À bientôt,
Judy
judy@myfrenchlife.org
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