Molsheim (; ) is a commune and a subprefecture in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. The total population in 2023 was 9,318. Molsheim had been a very fast-growing city between the French censuses of 1968 and 1999, passing from 5,739 to 9,335 inhabitants, but this increase came to a noticeable halt since.

Toponymy

It was attested in the form "Mollesheim" (Molles + heim) around 820. (See History of Molsheim).

Albert Dauzat and Charles Rostaing did not comment on the origin of the first element, Molles-, they simply associated it with the name of another town, Molring (called "Mollering" around 1304) which would be formed with the surname Moller. Moller might be an alternative spelling of Möller, which, in turn, is a variant of Müller ("miller"). The [r] at the end of Moller would have been assimilated to [s]". Ernest Nègre explains this toponym by the Germanic personal name Mudila + suffix -heim (home, house, small settlement, village) from Proto-Germanic through Old High German. Leon Dominian wrote that the "Alemanni are responsible for the suffix "heim" in Alsace. Towns and villages with names bearing this suffix are restricted to the plain". He also explained that the -ingen suffix is a later Allemannic alternative to -heim, which, in time, shortened to -ing or, was frenchified as -ange.

Population

Economy

At the Mercedes-Benz plant in Molsheim (Mercedes-Benz Custom Tailored Trucks), trucks are converted into special-purpose vehicles: fire trucks, garbage trucks, municipal vehicles (snow plows, sweepers, etc.), military transporters and other heavy-duty transporters such as the Mercedes-Benz Arocs/Actros SLT.

The lighting manufacturer Osram operates a plant in Molsheim.

Molsheim is also the headquarters of Merck subsidiary Millipore S.A.S., which produces laboratory equipment, and of Messier-Bugatti, a subsidiary of Safran (aerospace technology).

In 2005, production of the Bugatti Veyron started in Dorlisheim near Molsheim.

Molsheim station has rail connections to Strasbourg, Sélestat and Épinal.

See also

  • Communes of the Bas-Rhin department
  • Carthusian monastery of Molsheim

References

  • Town council website