BARR-

'Barr-' is a pre-Indo-European linguistic root meaning 'wooded hill', 'natural barrier'^[1][2].
In addition to the common noun bar, it explains many place names as:

★ Barr, commune of Alsace, France.

★ Bar, commune of Corrèze, Limousin, France,

★ Bar-sur-Aube and Bar-sur-Seine, communes of Aube, Champagne, France,

★ Bar-le-Duc, commune of Lorraine, France, etc.
but not Le Bar-sur-Loup, a former ''Albarn > Aubarn''.
In Alps, the word applies to rocky escarpments:

★ la Barre des Écrins is a mountain in French Alps.
This root should not be mistaken for the Basque root Bar- / ibar 'valley'.

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Notes and references

Notes and references

1. Michel Morvan, ''La racine toponymique pré-celtique
★ Bar'', Lapurdum I 1996, ERS 142 du CNRS, ISBN 2-84127-106-4.
2. Éric Vial, ''Les noms de villes et de village'', Belin, 1983, ISBN 2-70110-476-9