dauphin

Dauphin, town, Canada

Dauphin (dô`fĭn), town (1991 pop. 8,453), SW Man., Canada, on the Vermilion River. It is the retail and distribution center for an agricultural, lumbering, and fishing area.

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dauphin, French title

dauphin (dô`fĭn, Fr. dōfăN`) [Fr.,=dolphin], French title, borne first by the counts of Vienne (also called Viennois) and later by the eldest son of the king of France, or, if the dauphin came to die before the king, by the dauphin's eldest son. The origin of the title is rather obscure; it probably was the family name of the counts of Vienne, who adopted the dolphin as their heraldic device (12th cent.). Their territory came to be called the dauphiné, or dauphinate, of Vienne, or simply the Dauphiné. Another dauphinate, that of Auvergne, ruled by a branch of the house of Vienne, came into existence when Auvergne broke up in the 12th cent. The title dauphin passed, with the Dauphiné, to the direct heirs of the French kings when (1349) Dauphin Humbert II of Vienne sold the region to King Philip VI of France. When Philip died (1350) his grandson, later King Charles V, became the first heir to the throne to bear the title. After Louis XI the title was merely honorific. Louis Antoine, duc d'Angoulême (1775–1844), son of King Charles X, was the last dauphin. Louis, eldest son of Louis XIV, was known as the Great Dauphin; he was a competent military leader. Louis XVII is known as the Lost Dauphin.

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dauphin

Title of the eldest son of a king of France, the heir apparent to the French crown, from 1350 to 1830. Derived from a personal name, dauphin was originally used as a title in the 12th century by French counts in Auvergne and Vienne. The title came to the French crown through the purchase of lands known as the Dauphiné in 1349 by Philip VI, who bestowed it on his grandson, the future Charles V. Dauphin came to designate the heir apparent during the reign of Charles V, who gave his son, Charles VI, the title and the Dauphiné.

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dauphin

(1349--1830) the title of the direct heir to the French throne; the eldest son of the king of France