602 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 190. 



Now I should imagine both Lescarbot and 

 iChamplain, knowing nothing of the language, and 

 probably having very bad interpreters, must have 

 made a great mistake in supposing the Gaspesiens 

 called themselves Canadians, for I have questioned 

 several intelligent Mic-macs on the subject, and 

 they have invariably told me that they call them- 

 selves "Ulnookh" or " Elnouiek," '■'• Ninen el- 

 Tiouiek! — We are Men" But Mic-mac ? " O, 

 Mic-mac all same as Ulnookh." The latter word 

 atrictly means Indian-man, and cannot be applied 

 to a white. Mic-mac is the name of their tribe, 

 and, they insist upon it, always has been. Again, 

 Kanata is said to be an Iroquois word, and, conse- 

 quently, not likely to have been in use amongst a 

 tribe of the Lenape family, which the Mic-macs 

 are. It does not appear that we have any au- 

 thority for supposing the country was ever called 

 Oanada by the Indians themselves. 



It is curious enough that as Canada was said to 

 derive from an exclamation, " Aoa nada ! " so the 

 capital has been made to take its name from an- 

 other ; " Quel bee ! " cried one of Champlain's 

 Norman followers, on beholding Cape Diamond. 

 As in the former case, however, so in this, we have 

 evidence of more probable sources of the name, 

 which I will enumerate as briefly as possible. 

 The first, and a very probable one, is the fact, 

 that the strait between Quebec and St. Levi side 

 of the river, was called in the Algonquin language 

 " Quebeio," i. e. a narrowing, — a most descriptive 

 appellation, for in ascending the river Its breadth 

 suddenly diminishes here from about two miles to 

 fourteen or fifteen hundred yards from shore to 

 shore. 



The little river St. Charles, which flows Into the 

 St. Lawrence on the northern side of the promon- 

 tory, is called in the Indian language (Algonquin ?) 

 Kabir or Koubac, significant of Its tortuous 

 course, and it Is from this, according to La 

 Potherie, that the city derives its name of 

 Quebec. 



Mr. Hawkins, In his Picture of Quebec, Sfc, 

 1834, denies the Indian origin of the word, since, 

 as he says, there Is no analogous sound to It in 

 any of their languages ; and he assumes a Norman 

 origin for It on the strength of " Bee " being 

 always used by the Normans to designate a pro- 

 montory In the first place ; and secondly, because 

 the word Quebec is actually found upon a seal of 

 the Earl of Suffolk, of historical celebrity temp. 

 Hen. V. and VI., which Mr. Hawkins supposes to 

 have been the name of some town, castle, or barony 

 in Normandy. 



Such are the pros and cons, upon which I do 

 not presume to offer any opinion ; only I would 

 observe, that if there are no analogous sounds in 

 the Indian languages, whence come Kennebec and 

 other similar names ? A. C. M. 



Exeter. 



Surely in the " inscription on a seal (1420), in 

 which the Earl of Suffolk is styled ' Domine [?] de 

 Hamburg et de Quebec,' " the last word must be a 

 misprint for Ltibec, the sister city of Hamburg. 

 Mr. Hawkins's etymology seems to rest on no 

 more substantial foundation than an error of the 

 press in the work, whichever that may be, from 

 which he quotes. Jaydee. 



SELLING A WIFE. 



(Vol. vil., p. 429.) 



The popular idea that a man may legally dispose 

 of his wife, by exposing her for sale in a puWIc 

 market, may not Improbably have arisen from the 

 correlation of the terms buying and selling. Your 

 correspondent V. T. Sternberg need not be re- 

 minded how almost universal was the custom 

 among ancient nations of purchasing wives ; and 

 he win admit that it appears natural that the com- 

 modity which has been obtained "per ass et libram" 

 — to use the phrase of the old Roman law touching 

 matrimony — is transferable to another for a similar 

 consideration, whenever It may have become useless 

 or disagreeable to Its oi-Iglnal purchaser. However 

 this may be, the custom is ancient, and moreover 

 appears to have obtained, to some extent, among 

 the higher orders of society. Of this an Instance 

 may be found in Grimaldl's Origines Genealogices, 

 pp. 22, 23. (London, 1828, 4to.) The deed, by 

 which the transaction was sought to be legalised, 

 runs as follows : 



" To all good Christians to whom this writ shall 

 come, John de Camoys, son and heir of Sir Ralph de 

 Camoys, greeting : Know me to have delivered, and 

 yielded up of my own free will, to Sir William de 

 Paynel, Knight, my wife Margaret de Camoys, daugh- 

 ter and heiress of Sir John de Gatesden ; and likewise 

 to liave given and granted to the said Sir William, and 

 to have made over and quit-claimed all goods and 

 chattels which the said Margaret has or may have, or 

 which I may claim in her right ; so that neither I, nor 

 any one in my name, shall at any time hereafter be able 

 to claim any right to the said Margaret, or to her 

 goods and chattels, or their pertinents. And I consent 

 and grant, and by this writ declare, that the said Mar- 

 garet shall abide and remain with the said Sir William 

 during his pleasure. In witness of which I have placed 

 my seal to this deed, before these witnesses : Thomas 

 de Depeston, John de Ferrings, William de Icombe, 

 Henry le Biroun, Stephen Chamberlayne, Walter le 

 Blound, Gilbert de Batecumbe, Robert de Bosco, and 

 others." 



This matter came under the cognisance of Par- 

 liament In 1302, when the grant was pronounced 

 to be Invalid. 



Now, we may fondly believe that this transaction, 

 which occurred five hundred and fifty years ago, 

 was characteristic alone of that dark and distant 

 period, and that no parallel can be found In modern 



