Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Alsace |
AlsaceNoun1. A region of northeastern France famous for its wines. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "Alsace" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1830. (references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Alsace is a région of France, located on the German border between Switzerland and Belgium. The primary city in the region is Strasbourg (German Straßburg). The Rhine runs along its border with Germany.
Administration
The present région comprises two départements: Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin.
Alsace, along with Lorraine has long been contested territory between France and Germany. After the fall of Charlemagne's empire the two provinces became part of Germany. During the 16th and 17th centuries the area was slowly annexed by France. The area was then predominantly populated by Germans and they fought efforts to have French language and customs imposed upon them.
Both Alsace and Lorraine were, however, annexed by Germany after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 causing an estimated 50,000 people (of a total population of about a million) to emigrate into France. It remained a part of Germany until the end of World War I, when Germany ceded it back to France. Some, however, as at the time US President Woodrow Wilson, believe the region should have been legally self-ruling, as its Constitution stated it was bound to the sole authority of the Kaiser and not to the German State.
The re-establishment of German identity was reversed following the German surrender in 1918. Policies of forbidding the use of German and requiring that of French were then begun. Curiously, the region was not considered to be subject to some changes in French law from 1871 to 1919, such as the Law of Separation of the Church and the State.
The region was again occupied in 1940 during World War II. The occupation, while liberating in a sense, subjected the region to the Nazi dictatorship, which was loathed by most of the people. The war-torn area was given again in 1944 to France, which had then free hands to restore its policies. For instance, from 1945 to 1984 the use of the German language in newspapers was restricted to a maximum of 25%. In latter years, as the national conscience became diluted, cultural freedom has been gradually restored.
Economy
Alsace is noted for some of its wines, which have a very strong Germanic influence. Alsace produces some of the world's most noted dry Rieslings and is the only region in France to produce mostly varietal wines, typically from grapes also used in Germany.
Demographics
Historically, the region has passed between French and German control numerous times, resulting in a rich cultural blend. The local Germanic dialects are Allemanic (which covers Alsace, Baden and Switzerland) and Frankish (spoken in Lorraine, Luxemburg and the Rhineland). Both are referred to as Alsacien in French. See: Alsatian language.
See also wine producing regions, Alemanni.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Alsace."
Synonyms: AlsaceSynonyms: Alsatia (n), Elsass (n). (additional references) |
Crosswords: Alsace |
| English words defined with "Alsace": Alsatian ♦ Dextrin. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Alsace" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. Danish (Alsace, Elsass), French (Alsace, alsatian, Elsass), Italian (Alsace, Elsass). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | L' Alsace d'hier et de demain (1951) Alsace (1916) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Periodicals | |||
Theater & Movies | |||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | U.S. Army Field Hospital No. 113, Alsace, France. : Personnel. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |  | "Ce ciel est notre azur ce champ est notre terre! Cette Lorraine et cette Alsace, c'est á nous!" Victor Hugo. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | 1er mars, 1871, 1er mars, 1918. En Alsace libérée les petites filles, se restreignent de bon coeur pour hâter la déliverance de l'Alsace encore annedéxe. Faites comme elles. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Le Hohwald. Champ du Feu, Alsace / Roger Broders ; printed by the Chemins de fer D'Alsace et de Lorraine (Railways of Alsace and Lorraine). Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | "Ce ciel est notre azur ce champ est notre terre! Cette Lorraine et cette Alsace, c'est á nous!" Victor Hugo. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | 1er mars, 1871, 1er mars, 1918. En Alsace libérée les petites filles, se restreignent de bon coeur pour hâter la déliverance de l'Alsace encore annedéxe. Faites comme elles. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |  |
| "Village in Alsace, France" by Liam Heffernan Commentary: "Village in Alsace, France." | "Grapes" by Peter Dahl Commentary: "From Alsace, France ." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. | |
| Author | Date | Quotation |
Treaty of Versailles | 1919 | The German Government undertakes to bear the expense of all civil and military pensions which had been earned in Alsace. (reference) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Business | The growth of the theme restaurant sector is a recent trend that continues to gain popularity, with restaurants like El Rancho (Tex/Mex), Buffalo Grill (American fare), Tarte Julie (specialty sweet and savory pies), and Flam's (regional cuisine from Alsace). (references) | |
Civil Liberties | France | For historical reasons, the Jewish, Lutheran, Reformed (Protestant), and Roman Catholic religions in three departments of Alsace and Lorraine enjoy special legal status. (references) |
Economic History | Luxembourg | Plans have been set in place to create an ultra-rapid railroad linking Paris to Lorraine, Alsace, Luxembourg, and Germany by 2005. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Alsace" is generally used as a noun (proper) -- approximately 98.81% of the time. "Alsace" is used about 84 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (proper) | 98.81% | 83 | 36,350 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 1.19% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 84 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "Alsace": Alsace gum. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "Alsace": Alsace-lorraine. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "Alsace"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Afrikaans | Elsas (Elsass), die Elsas (Elsass). (various references) | |
Chinese | 阿尔萨斯. (various references) | |
Danish | Alsace (Elsass), Elsass (Elsass). (various references) | |
Dutch | Elzas (Elsass). (various references) | |
Esperanto | Alsaco (Elsass). (various references) | |
French | Alsace (alsatian). (various references) | |
German | Elsass, Elsaß (Elsass). (various references) | |
Greek | Αλσατία. (various references) | |
Italian | Alsazia (Elsass), Alsace (Elsass). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | alsaceay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | Alsácia. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | alzas. (various references) | |
Spanish | Alsacia (Elsass). (various references) | |
Swedish | Elsass (Elsass). (various references) | |
Turkish | Alsas (alsatian). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Misspellings | |
"Alsace" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: alace, Alactel, Alastel, Alsek, Altecea, Alzate, Apsac, Arsakov, Asako, Assface, Atsabe, Ausgabe, Elsdale, Halspach, Lasercel. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: calesa. | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-c-e-l-s" | |
-1 letter: alecs, laces, scale. | |
-2 letters: aals, aces, alae, alas, alec, ales, asea, casa, case, cels, lace, lacs, lase, leas, sale, seal. | |
-3 letters: aal, aas, ace, ala, ale, als, cel, els, lac, las, lea, sac, sae, sal, sea, sec, sel. | |
-4 letters: aa, ae, al, as, el, es, la. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-a-c-e-l-s" | |
+1 letter: acetals, alcades, anlaces, calesas, jacales, lactase, palaces, scalade, scalage, scalare. | |
+2 letters: acalephs, acaulose, acerolas, acylates, alcahest, alcaides, alcaldes, alcaydes, analects, balances, berascal, caesural, calashes, calderas, camelias, canalise, candelas, canellas, capelans, caramels, caravels, cascabel, cascable, caseload, cashable, castable, catalase, cataloes, causable, ceramals, coaevals, escalade, escalate, lactases, lactates, lacteals, manacles, placates, scalable, scalades, scalages, scalares, scalepan, scapulae, valances. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Images: Digital Art 8. Quotations: Historic | 9. Quotations: Non-fiction 10. Usage Frequency 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Derivations 15. Anagrams 16. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
