foyer territorial

20:48 May 6, 2023 

My pleasure. However, I think the concept is quite clear even without further information/context. It's not a "social club or cultural centre" (not in the sense of an association of people to meet and pursue their shared interests, like the "golf club" or the "football club", even the "expats club" or, like in my town, "The American cultural center"). How I understand it, it's the very place and people that form a country/nation and their common heritage.

10:10 May 6, 2023 

Listen everybody, we're wasting our time here unless the Asker provides more context, it's empty debate, The Asker hasn't posted any extra context in 24 hours, so...there's a time when it's OK to give up, despite any gripes you might have.

09:30 May 6, 2023 

Hello
I came back to this question after comments by FPC to my suggestion but I've found some confirmation in the comments pointing out that it could be an association and that it is indeed something more physical than solely an ideology and identity.
Adrian suggested "hub" and this may be better than club" but we could also consider "core" or "association" which has both physical and non physical connotations

09:25 May 6, 2023 

I think fatherland and motherland have nationalistic connotations, but maybe "mother country" strikes the right balance in terms of the different things we need to achieve with the word we use?

Apart from using the Latin "patria", why can be done? Looks like there might be a lexical gap in English.

Thanks to FPC for an interesting debate.

07:01 May 6, 2023 

prodded by observations on my commenting in English sections, I went quickly looking up "foyer territorial'". Now, buried deep under dozens of hits about a completely different meaning (a public institution in Martinique ) I found two very interesting quotations in which it is compared and equated to "patrie": the exact French equivalent of my "patria".

That doesn't mean I've answered the query but arguably shows my understanding of the term is the good one and the English translation should hopefully capture all its dimensions, too. Give my regards to Charles when you see him for the Coronation.

https://books.google.fr/books?id=h1znDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT70&lpg=PT...

https://books.google.fr/books?id=Ive9DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT316&lpg=P...

15:52 May 5, 2023 

This is more akin to what in my native language we call "patria" (sometimes more simply "paese") https://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/patria which can have both the meaning of the place (homeland) and the cultural-ethnic "space" (ethnicity is often wrongly confused and identified with physical traits whereas it's a lot more and MOSTLY cultural traits). We need an English terms that can combine (home)land + nation. COUNTRY is the closest that comes to mind off the top of my head https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/country (meanings 2a + 2b)

13:30 May 5, 2023 

En effet. Attendons de connaître le pays concerné.

13:20 May 5, 2023 

je pense qu'on est tous plus ou moins d'accord sur la dimension physique, mais la question parait inclure dans le terme un aspect , une dimension culturelle. Asker dit " il s'agit ici d'espace physique ET socioculturel", donc espace au sens littéral et figuré.

09:44 May 5, 2023 

Cf. [5] Territoire défini en tant que foyer
https://www.cairn.info/revue-outre-terre1-2007-3-page-41.htm

09:22 May 5, 2023 

This is what, in more common speech, in French is called "terroir" (see entry B. below). That is is the portion of land where a community lives AND its way of life, with its customs, lore, often gastronomy (the terms is most often used in this respect) it developed over time. I struggle every time to find a perfect equivalent in 'ordinary' English, but maybe anthropologists have agreed on something.
https://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/terroir

B. Région, province, pays considéré(ée) dans ses particularités rurales, ses traditions, sa culture, ses productions et du point de vue du caractère des personnes qui y vivent ou en sont originaires. Terroir breton, charentais, lorrain, gaulois; avoir l'amour du terroir; être enraciné dans le terroir; la France, terroir fertile en talents; goût, saveur, odeur, parfum, senteur de terroir; esprit de terroir; avoir l'accent du terroir; chants, contes, coutumes, dictons, légendes, proverbes du terroir; artiste, peintre, poète de/du terroir. C'est encore un plaisir d'entendre ces idiotismes pittoresques régner sur le vieux terroir du centre de la France (SAND, Mare au diable, 1846, p. 162). ...

08:21 May 5, 2023 

For what country?

I'll suggest "homeland" to kick things off, to get a discussion going.

"a state or area set aside to be a state for a people of a particular national, cultural, or racial origin" (Merriam-Webster)