384 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



Amaguadus. 



The name of a Pond, (a lagoon enclosed by a long beach), just within the northern 

 entrance of East Bay, a branch of Bras d'Or Lake, in Cape Breton; also applied to 

 the neighbouring settlement, and its Post Office. It is AMAGUADEES on the 

 large-scale map of the Geological Survey, AMAGUADEEZ on the older Mackinlay 

 maps, while the Post Office name is AMAGUADUS. Rand uses AMAQUADEES, 

 and gives its Micmac name, without meaning, as AMOKATIK (Micmac- English 

 Dictionary, 180). Seeking further light upon the word, I have asked the aid of 

 Rev. Father MacPherson, of Glendale, Cape Breton, priest to the Micmacs of the 

 region, who has been so kind as to interview a number of them for me. He learned 

 from Chief Denys of Eskasoni settlement, the oldest resident there, that the Micmacs 

 apply the name AMAGUADEES to that pond, and know also the name AMAGUADI 

 for another pond near by, apparently that next to the eastward of AMAGUADEES. 

 Chief Denys says also that the latter name is the diminutive of the former, thus 

 involving the termination CHEECH, meaning LITTLE. Obviously Rand gave 

 the form without the diminutive, but the latter has come into prominence owing to 

 the fact that settlement has grown up around the AMAGUADEES and not the 

 AMAGUADI pond. 



It seems very clear that the word AMAGUADI involves our familiar termin- 

 ation -A-KWA'DI-(K) earlier explained (page 377) and this is confirmed by the 

 Indian testimony given below. As to its meaning, however, there is much conflict 

 of opinion among the Indians, for while Chief Denys told Father MacPherson that 

 the word signifies "some kind of fish there," though he was not sure of the kind, 

 Gabriel Sillibos, Captain at Wycocomagh, gave him "Grove of Spear Pole Trees," 

 while Jim Joe, Captain at Malagawatch, gave him "Missing fish there," with an 

 explanation in the failure of fish to be caught on the hook. Obviously the prefix 

 has become so greatly abbreviated as to be unrecognizable by the Indians themselves. 

 Seeking the Micmac name of some lagoon-dwelling animal or plant, of which the name 

 could be abbreviated to AM-, the most probable by far seems to me NÛMDUMOO, 

 the Oyster (Rand, First Reading Book, 54), an animal which is abundant in the Bras 

 d'Or Lakes, and of which the prominence in Indian economy needs no emphasis. 

 In this case the word in full aboriginal form would be NUMDUMOO-A-KWA'DI- 

 -(K), meaning literally OYSTERS-THEIR-OCCURRENCE-(PLACE) gradually 

 abbreviated by the Indians to UM-A-KWA'DI-(K), which is practically Rand's 

 and Chief Denys' forms. Then for the smaller pond, the diminutive CHEECH, 

 abbreviated to -ES, was added, giving us our present word. This, however, is but 

 a theory, and awaits further evidence. 



AMJELAGWECHACADIE. The Micmac name, in simplified form, of 

 Officers or Mission Brook, just above Mission Point at the mouth of the Resti- 

 gouche, in Quebec. It was given me by Father Pacifique as AMITLAGOET- 

 JAOEGATIG, with the meaning PIN FISH PLACE. The construction of the word 

 is clear, for the termination -OEGATIG is the precise equivalent of our -A-KA'D I -K, 

 earlier explained (page 379), while the first part of the name is as clearly the equiva- 

 lent of AMJËLAGWËCH, which Rand gives as the Micmac name of the MINNOW 

 {First Reading Book, 52). If there were any doubt as to the identity of the PIN 

 FISH and the MINNOW, it would seem to be removed by Rand himself, who gives 

 in his Micmac-English Dictionary, 81, the word KUMJILAGWËTC as meaning 

 PIN FISH, while on page 20 he gives AMJELAGWETC, evidently the same word 

 with some prefatory sound, as meaning MINNOW. Hence the word in full would 

 be AMJËLAGWËCH-Â-KA'DI-K, meaning literally MINNOW-THEIR-OC- 

 CURRENCE-PLACE, which is presumably descriptive. 



