184 EOYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



controllinii- siu-li cliano-es have been fully worked out for other words by 

 philologists and are o-iven at length in their books, expressed sometimes 

 as laws. Familiarization may go farther than change of sounds, and 

 alter whole words to make them like familiar ones, which is one of the com- 

 monest principles of nomenclature {Manawoijanish in New Brunswick has 

 become Mah'j(/iiinj.') Furtlier, it may bring words reall}^ distinct in origin 

 though somewhat alike in sound into an identical form, and probably it 

 is for this reason that there is a Miramichi in Xew Brunswick and in 

 Massachussetts, and a Madawaska in New Brunswick, in Ontario and in 

 New Vork ; (3) translation though this is not common, (4) incorporation 

 of articles or other words with the name, to form one word to which are 

 sometimes added other words of similar import though in the familiar 

 tongue, as occurs in several of the ])lace-names of England. 



A second cause of change is siniplitication. There is a constant 

 tendency, the physiological result of the operation of convenience or 

 economy, to shorten words and eliminate hard or awkward sounds, or 

 even easily pronounceable syllables if these are very numerous. This is 

 especially plain in the nomenclattire of old countries like England where 

 the names have been worn so smooth b}' centuries of friction that they 

 are for our tongues well-nigh ideal. In the names of a new country 

 sjielling and pronunciation usually correspond, but as they change it is 

 pronunciation which takes the lead and spelling follows unwillingly, 

 often lagging so far behind, especially in old countries, as England, that 

 the tAvo can scarcely be recognized as companions. 



Changes may also be caused by misprints in important documents 

 or maps It is po.ssible that the accidental omission of an r in De 

 Monts' Commission of 1603 changed the ancient Larcadia to the modern 

 Acadia. 



How TfiEY PERSIST OR BECOME EXTINCT. — -The chicf cau.sc of per- 

 sistence of placc-uames is inertia ; convenience is against changes, which 

 require unwelcome etïbrt, and usually it requires a great revolution of 

 some kind to overcome a custom well fixed. Attachment to great natural 

 features helps names to persist and in newly explored countries official 

 ma]»s have great infiuence in this direction. They become extinct in large 

 numbers when there is a change of race with a difierent language, or 

 again when a region is for a longer or shorter time abandoned as occurred 

 in places in Acadia after the expulsion of the Acadians. Other causes of 

 extinction are the replacement of one name by another when a great 

 event, such as a battle happens, and the unconscious or deliberate replace- 

 ment as a place grows in importance and culture of a trivial name by 

 one with dignity, as has already been cxj)lained. 



