And was not Languedoc a former "province"?

Yes, the old monarchical provinces got broken up into smaller departments. The original province was the province of Provence. It was the first area outside of Italy that the Romans conquered: pro + vincia, the final morpheme related to vinco 'to conquer'. It later became a generic noun for 'province, jurisdiction, sphere of administration'.

Ceci n'est pas un seing.