Thiais is a commune

Communes of France

The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...

 in the southern suburbs of Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. It is located 10.3 km (6.4 mi) from the center of Paris

Kilometre Zero

In many countries, Kilometre Zero or similar terms in other languages, is a particular location , from which distances are traditionally measured...

.

The name Thiais comes from Medieval Latin

Medieval Latin

Medieval Latin was the form of Latin used in the Middle Ages, primarily as a medium of scholarly exchange and as the liturgical language of the medieval Roman Catholic Church, but also as a language of science, literature, law, and administration. Despite the clerical origin of many of its authors,...

 Theodasium or Theodaxium, meaning "estate of Theodasius", a Gallo-Roman landowner.

The Austrian writer Joseph Roth

Joseph Roth

Joseph Roth, born Moses Joseph Roth , was an Austrian journalist and novelist, best known for his family saga Radetzky March about the decline and fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and for his novel of Jewish life, Job as well as the seminal essay 'Juden auf Wanderschaft' translated in...

, exiled due to his opposition to the Nazi regime, lived at Thiais at the end of the 1930s and is buried at the local cemetery. The tomb of Russian writer Yevgeny Zamyatin

Yevgeny Zamyatin

Yevgeny Ivanovich Zamyatin was a Russian author of science fiction and political satire. Despite having been a prominent Old Bolshevik, Zamyatin was deeply disturbed by the policies pursued by the CPSU following the October Revolution...

 is also there. Expatriate American journalist and novelist William Gardner Smith

William Gardner Smith

William Gardner Smith was an American journalist, novelist, and editor. Smith is linked to the black social protest novel tradition of the 1940s and the 1950s, a movement that became synonymous with writers such as Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, Willard Motley, and Ann Petry...

 died there in 1974.

Transport

Thiais is served by Pont de Rungis – Aéroport d'Orly station on Paris RER line C

RER C

The RER C is one of the five lines in the RER rapid transit system serving :Paris, France. It is operated by SNCF.The line runs from the northwestern terminuses Pontoise , Versailles – Rive Gauche and Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines to the southeastern terminuses Massy-Palaiseau , Dourdan-la-Forêt , ...

. It is also served by Choisy-le-Roi

Choisy-le-Roi (Paris RER)

Choisy-le-Roi is a station in Paris' express suburban rail system, the RER. It is situated on the Paris–Bordeaux railway. It serves the commune of Choisy-le-Roi, in the Val-de-Marne department.- See also :* List of stations of the Paris RER...

 station on Paris RER line C. This station, although administratively located on the territory of Choisy-le-Roi

Choisy-le-Roi

Choisy-le-Roi is a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.-Geography:Crossed by the Seine river, it is located from the center of Paris....

, lies closer to the town center of Thiais than Pont de Rungis – Aéroport d'Orly station does, and is thus used by people in Thiais.