payès

Payés is a Catalan noun meaning a farmer or peasant, especially a smallholder in rural Catalan-speaking areas such as Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, and Valencia. The standard masculine form is pagès, the feminine form pagesa, and the collective term pagesia denotes peasantry. The spelling payés appears as a variant in some dialects and in historical or surname usages.

Etymology and related forms: The word derives from Latin pagēs or pagus, related to rural land and country areas. It is cognate with terms in other Romance languages such as Spanish campesino and French paysan. In modern Catalan, pagès/pagesa is the common everyday form, while payès is found mainly as a regional or historical variant and in proper names.

Usage and cultural significance: The term traditionally referred to rural farmers who owned or worked small plots of land. In contemporary Catalan, pagès/pagesa is used in linguistic, cultural, and political contexts to evoke rural life, agricultural work, and regional identity. The broader concept, pagesia, denotes the peasantry as a social group and carries historical resonance in Catalan culture and literature.

Surname usage: Payés is also a surname in Catalan-speaking regions. As a personal name, it reflects the historical link between families and rural occupations.

See also: pagesia, pagès, variants of the term in Catalan-speaking regions.