I need some help with French language and history.

[oldhippy]

I have discovered many French descendants in my Family Tree. De Pierrepont I, Sir Hugh abt 910. What is meant by De.

What does all this mean? Pierrepont, Neufchatel, Seine-Inferiure, Haute-Normandie, France.

Am I right in thinking people were given their title due to the land they owned, or is it to do with Kingship

 

[NigelB]

1 hour ago, oldhippy said:

I have discovered many French descendants in my Family Tree. De Pierrepont I, Sir Hugh abt 910. What is meant by De.

De in this context from my understanding of schoolboy french is "from / of" Pierrepont

1 hour ago, oldhippy said:

What does all this mean? Pierrepont, Neufchatel, Seine-Inferiure, Haute-Normandie, France.

 

And this is basically an address ............

Pierrepont, Neufchatel = town & area 

Seine-infriure = lower Seine

Haute - Normandie = Upper Normandy

I stand to be corrected on any of this by someone who actually knows the language, I didn't pay much attention in french classes 

[Nednico]

Hi there i’m French and May can help here. 

Answers were right for both of them. 

“De” is the first part oft he name usually for noble people and was used to give information about the place where the person was. 

I confirm that the haute Normandie etc... is the address here in France but you need the street I guess. 

Nico

[oldhippy]

As this goes back to 910 I don't think it ever had a street. So the de is for people who had wealth. Would they be Kingship/ Royalty.

Thanks both for helping.

[clockboy]

Hi oldhippy my wife speaks and reads almost fluent French so I asked her to look at this and this is her interpretation. 

It looks like his Name was Hugh De Pierrepont, He was resident in Neufchatel, in the lower Seine region of Upper Normandy. The de in french means of or from, so it could mean that Pierrepont was an area of Neufchatel, or that he originally came from Pierrepont. I have Identified 4 towns/villages called Pierrepont and 4 towns called Neufchatel, non are together but  two are in Normandy. 

In summary He was Hugh from Pierrepont

 

Del

 

[oldhippy]

Thanks very much. So it has nothing to do with land owner ship or wealth.

[philipk5]

Pierre pont = Stone bridge / bridge of stone ? Places didn't really have names just descriptions of the place which then went on to become place names.

Wasn't there a fairy tale about some goats and someone living under a bridge?