178 THE SHORTER SCIENTIFIC PAPERS 



are four principal prongs. Some editions of Webster 

 give "carribou" as a variant spelling. 



It is of course not impossible that we are dealing with a 

 word originating in a tribe of northern Indians and that 

 Mackenzie made an error in suggesting its French origin. 

 The Algonquin Indians as well as their relatives of the 

 Great Slave and Athabasca regions, however, use the word 

 "Atick," while the Esquimaux use the word "tuktu" for 

 reindeer. Even should the word "caribou" appear in some 

 of the Indian dialects, one would still be inclined to sus- 

 pect its French paternity through contact with early 

 traders. 



Among the historical papers of the seventeenth or the 

 latter part of the eighteenth centuries, particularly those 

 relating to the fur trade, references should be found which 

 will remove any existing doubts. In the meantime we 

 may assume the following derivation: Caribou < carribou 

 < Fr. carre < quarre < Lat. quadri = quattour, four+Fr. 

 boeuf < Lat. bos < (bov) < Gk. bous, ox, the four-horn- 

 ed ox. 



