The Vendée (, ; oc, Vendèa) is a river in the

Nouvelle-Aquitaine Nouvelle-Aquitaine (; oc, Nòva Aquitània or ; eu, Akitania Berria; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Novéle-Aguiéne'') is the largest administrative region in France, spanning the west and southwest of the mainland. The region was created by ...

and Pays de la Loire regions in western

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. It a right tributary of the Sèvre Niortaise. Its source is near L'Absie, in the west of the

Deux-Sèvres Deux-Sèvres () is a French department. ''Deux-Sèvres'' literally means "two Sèvres": the Sèvre Nantaise and the Sèvre Niortaise are two rivers which have their sources in the department. It had a population of 374,878 in 2019.

department. For a few kilometres, it forms the border between the departments of

Vendée Vendée (; br, Vande) is a department in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France, on the Atlantic coast. In 2019, it had a population of 685,442.

(named after the river) and

Charente-Maritime Charente-Maritime () is a department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region on the southwestern coast of France. Named after the river Charente, its prefecture is La Rochelle. As of 2019, it had a population of 651,358 with an area of 6,864 square kil ...

, before it flows into the Sèvre Niortaise, near

Marans The Marans, french: Poule de Marans, italic=no, is a French breed of dual-purpose chicken, reared both for meat and for its dark brown eggs. It originated in or near the port town of Marans, in the département of Charente-Maritime, in the Nouvel ...

. The name is attested as ''Fluvium Vendre'' in the 10th century, and as ''Flumen Vendee'' and ''Vendeia'' by the 11th century. According to Pierre-Henri Billy, the name ultimately derives from the Celtic toponym ''*vindo-'' meaning white or brilliant in a sacred context (as in the

Modern Welsh The history of the Welsh language (Welsh: ''Hanes yr iaith Gymraeg'') spans over 1400 years, encompassing the stages of the language known as Primitive Welsh, Old Welsh, Middle Welsh, and Modern Welsh. Origins Welsh evolved from British, the C ...

''gwyn/wyn''). The name likely originates in

Proto-Celtic Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, is the ancestral proto-language of all known Celtic languages, and a descendant of Proto-Indo-European. It is not attested in writing but has been partly reconstructed through the comparative method. Proto-Celti ...

Gaulish Gaulish was an ancient Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, most of Switze ...

, but may also have originated in the Gallo or Old Breton languages.Pierre-Henri Billy, ''Dictionnaire des noms de lieux de la France'', éditions Errance, 640 pages, 2011 , . It flows through the following departments and towns: *

Saint-Paul-en-Gâtine Saint-Paul-en-Gâtine () is a commune in the Deux-Sèvres department in western France. See also * Gâtine Vendéenne * Communes of the Deux-Sèvres department The following is a list of the 256 communes of the Deux-Sèvres department of Fr ...

Vendée Vendée (; br, Vande) is a department in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France, on the Atlantic coast. In 2019, it had a population of 685,442.

Mervent Mervent () is a commune in the Vendée department in the Pays de la Loire region in western France. Places and monumentsFrom the french article on Mervent * The Château de la Citardière * The Old Castle ruins in the village, * The church Sa ...

Fontenay-le-Comte Fontenay-le-Comte (; Poitevin: ''Funtenaes'' or ''Fintenè'') is a commune and subprefecture in the Vendée department in the Pays de la Loire region of Western France. In 2018, it had a population of 13,302, while its functional area had a po ...

Velluire Velluire () is a former commune in the Vendée department in the Pays de la Loire region in western France. On 1 January 2019, it was merged into the new commune Les Velluire-sur-Vendée.L'Île-d'Elle L'Île-d'Elle () is a commune in the Vendée department in the Pays de la Loire region in western France. See also *Communes of the Vendée department The following is a list of the 257 communes of the Vendée department of France. The comm ...

References

Rivers of France Rivers of Nouvelle-Aquitaine Rivers of Pays de la Loire Rivers of Deux-Sèvres Rivers of Vendée Rivers of Charente-Maritime {{France-river-stub