Auch is a very ancient town, whose
settlement was noted by the Romans during their conquest of the area in the 50s
BC. At that time, it was settled by an Aquitanian tribe known to the Romans as
the Ausci. Their name for the town was Climberrum or Elimberris. This has been
tentatively etymologized from the Iberian iltir ("town, oppidum") and
a cognate of the Basque berri ("new"), although another Iberian
settlement in Granada recorded by the Romans as "Iliberi" probably
had no contact with proto-Basque speaking peoples. Following their conquest,
the Romans renamed the town Augusta Auscorum or
