As in "motte and bailey", the earliest castles (Norman) consisting of a mound of earth, either thrown up or naturally occurring, atop which was built a wooden pallissade (bailey).

motte - A steep mound of earth surrounded by a ditch and surmounted by a timber stockade and tower; the main feature of a Norman castle.
[Dict. of Architecture and Construction]

I've never encountered "motte castrale", but France is dotted with "mottes féodales".

Of course the ditch of the motte has given us "moat". Strangely, "ditch" and "dyke" are similarly related.

412,000 ghits for "motte and bailey"

Above: drawing of a typical motte-and-bailey castle ... A simple definition might be that a ringwork is a motte-and-bailey without the motte, ...
www.castlewales.com/motte.html

Motte-and-bailey castles could be very quickly erected; according to records, ... Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motte-and-bailey" ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motte-and-bailey

Motte and bailey castles appeared in England after the Norman Conquest of 1066. Motte and bailey castles were a common feature in England by the death of ...
www.historylearningsite.co.uk/ motte_and_bailey_castles.htm

I think a tourist guide is an ideal place to educate people by using words like "motte" and "bastle house".



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Note added at 50 mins (2006-03-08 10:43:46 GMT)
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Depending on the real age of the "motte", maybe.

The Saxons also fortified hilltops.

A multivallate hill-fort is defined as a fortified enclosure located on a hill ... No evidence suggesting that there might have been Saxon round houses were ...
cholesbury.com/fort.htm

Vexillation fort within Iron Age hill-fort (some items in British Museum) ...
www.athenapub.com/britmus1.htm

At the Norman Conquest, Salisbury again attracted the attention of the authorities, and the hill fort became a typical motte-and-bailey castle by 1070: in ...
www.wiltshire.gov.uk/community/getcom.php?id=193



In New Zealand it would be a "pa", a stockaded hilltop village.