Alsace

region between France and Germany (given to France 1648 at the settlement of the Thirty Years' War and disputed over ever since), from Medieval Latin Alsatia, from Old High German *Ali-sazzo "inhabitant of the other (bank of the Rhine)," from Proto-Germanic *alja "other" (from PIE root *al- (1) "beyond") + Old High German -sazzo "inhabitant," literally "one who sits."