Esves-le-Moutier () is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France.
Toponymy/hydronymy Esves-le-Moutier appears on monastic cartulary in 1199 under the scholarly name "Evya", which also indicates the name of the main small streamAlbert Dauzat, Dictionnaire étymologique des noms de lieux de France, Librairie Larousse, 1963. "Esves-le-Moutier". The scholarly writing of the monks substitutes the vowel "u" for the letter y. The trivial meaning is water, "eau" in French actually, but "aqua" in Latin, eve, eave, ewe, evve... in Old French. The Classic Latin word monasterium has also left "moutier" in Old French.
It remains to be explained how "Esves", in the plural form, is written today, which corresponds always to that of the small stream. The Touraine tradition, unlike contemporary hydrological science, places the birth of the stream at the edge of the small sanctuary, a branch of more powerful medieval monasteries. There are indeed several important sources or fountains: the "Red fountains" of royal or public obedience and the great "Saint Martin fountain", always of seigneurial or private obedience. The ultimate hypothesis of a relatinising proposition "(born) ex aquae", namely that the water of the river is deaf from its groundwater, is superfluousThe second "s" of ESVES may come from a cacography..
Population
See also Communes of the Indre-et-Loire department
References