A name that lends a smile to all the neo-Toulouse residents who listen to us (we salute them indeed!). And yet, this is all a matter of misinterpretation. Indeed, the name Trois Cocus comes from the Occitan Tres-Cocuts. E òc, pronunciatz Tres Cocuts en lenga nòstra. E los Tres Cocuts, it is not the Three Cuckolds but the Three Cuckoos. Sabètz, los ausèls / you know,
the birds. Alavetz brave mond, aquí the question that our podèm askar aqueste morning: cossí passèrem dels Tres Cocuts aux Trois Cocus?
How did we go from Trois Coucous to Trois Cocus?
Well, tell yourself that Napoleonic soldiers escarraunhèron the name of the Tolzan district when the notèron / it is said that Napoleonic soldiers will badly transcribe the name of this Toulouse district. This is why we have come to this. Mas se ditz tanben quicòm mai / but something else is also told: with the story of an old engraving dating from the 15th century, where 3 cuckoos / 3 cocuts are represented on the lintel of a house located at the time in the current Trois Cocus district.
An expression now. What does “las agaças fan pas de cocuts” mean in Occitan?
Sabètz or sabètz not? Literally: “magpies do not cuckoo”, weary annoyances fan no cocuts. In French, you all know the equivalent expression: dogs do not make cats. But in Occitan, we speak of magpies and cuckoos: las agaças fan not cocuts. In other words, we inherit the qualities and faults of our parents. Proverb which serves above all to underline the heritage of a defect and thus to criticize parents and children. Anyway, say adieu-siatz to all the inhabitants of Toulouse’s Trois Cocus district.