en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umayyad_invasion_of_Gaul
2 corrections found
In his quest to subdue the region, Charles met the opposition of Waiffer
This should be Pepin, not Charles. Charles Martel died in 741, while the conflict with Waifer belongs to Pepin the Short’s campaigns of the 750s and 760s.
Full reasoning
This sentence mixes up Charles Martel with his son Pepin the Short.
The paragraph is explicitly about events beginning in 752: Pepin's invasion of Septimania and the siege of Narbonne. But Charles Martel died in 741, more than a decade earlier, so he could not have been the ruler facing Waifer during those operations.
The conflict with Waifer/Waifar of Aquitaine is a well-known part of Pepin's reign. Academic summaries of the Aquitanian war identify the main opponents as "Pippin, rex of the Franks" and "Waifar, princeps of Aquitania." So the name "Charles" here is a factual error in the article's narrative.
2 sources
- Britannica – Charles Martel
Charles Martel (born c. 688—died October 22, 741, Quierzy-sur-Oise [France]) was the mayor of the palace of Austrasia... Before his death he divided the Merovingian kingdom between his two legitimate sons, Pippin III and Carloman.
- Oxford Academic – Franks, Romans, and Countrymen: Imperial Interests, Local Identities, and the Carolingian Conquest of Aquitaine
Following the reignition of the conflict in the 760s, the Historia vel Gesta Francorum identifies the two main players in this longa altercatio as 'Pippin, rex of the Franks,' and 'Waifar, princeps of Aquitania.'
charaha (to discuss), which became "charabia".
This etymology is incorrect. Standard French etymological dictionaries derive *charabia* from Provençal *charabiat*, probably altered from Spanish *algarabia* (“Arabic language”), not from Arabic *charaha*.
Full reasoning
The article gives a specific etymology for the French word charabia, saying it comes from Arabic charaha. Standard French lexicographic references do not support that.
The CNRTL/Académie française entry derives charabia from Provençal charabiat, probably an alteration of Spanish algarabia, originally meaning "the Arabic language" and then by extension unintelligible speech or gibberish. That directly contradicts the article's claim that the word came from Arabic charaha.
So the problem is not merely uncertainty: the article names a specific origin that authoritative French etymological dictionaries do not give.
1 source
- CNRTL / Académie française – CHARABIA
Emprunté du provençal charabiat, sans doute altération de l'espagnol algarabia, « la langue arabe », d'où « galimatias ».