An Occitan to his fingertips, he was worldly and indulgent and easy.

Not Occitan, he thought, not even French; dark, with dark eyes, long ears.

The title seems to come from the 12th-century Occitan troubadour song on which Philip has based his piece.

Commentators catchphrases inspired by Occitan, an original language in southern France's rugby heartland, have become famous across the whole country.

They had grown up together, and he had always loved her, an older brother, a fellow Occitan, her favorite knight.

The narrow cobbled streets, crowded with shops, loud with people all speaking Occitan, even the steep familiar hillside gladdened her heart.

You are a true Occitan; do you want these cold northerners with their callused knees and their greedy fingers ruling our sweet land forever?

The Occitan people themselves had seemed different to her than those in Paris: loud, but not harsh; forceful, but not judging; proud, but not contemptuous.

"Good evening, my dear girls," he said, in his informal, Occitan drawl.