Paimpont (; ; Gallo: ''Penpont'') is a commune in the
Ille-et-Vilaine
Ille-et-Vilaine (; br, Il-ha-Gwilen) is a department of France, located in the region of Brittany in the northwest of the country. It is named after the two rivers of the Ille and the Vilaine. It had a population of 1,079,498 in 2019.
Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period o ...
in northwestern
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 ar ...
.
The name is a compound of
Old Breton
Breton (, ; or in Morbihan) is a Southwestern Brittonic language of the Celtic language family spoken in Brittany, part of modern-day France. It is the only Celtic language still widely in use on the European mainland, albeit as a member of th ...
''pen'' "head" and the Latin borrowing ''pont'' "bridge" and is first attested in the 9th century in the Latinised form ''Caput Pontis'' and then in 870 CE as ''Penpont''. The town grew up around the , which was founded by the Breton king and Catholic saint
Judicael Judicael or Judicaël is a Breton masculine given name. It may refer to:
* Saint Judicael (7th century), king of Domnonia and high king of Brittany
* Judicael, Duke of Brittany (9th century)
* Judicael Berengar (10th century), count of Rennes
* J ...
in 645 CE on the shore of a small lake now known as the Étang de Paimpont.
Population
Inhabitants of Paimpont are called ''Paimpontais'' in French.