Iganong] INDIAN PLACE-NOMENCLATURE 91 



TIDAL NARROWS. The final S sound in conjunction with the terminal K as given 

 in the Indian forms above mentioned, is obviously simply an abbreviation of the 

 common diminutive SIS, meaning LITTLE, with the locative K added, as is common 

 with Indian place-names. If actually present it would make the word read POK- 

 WEÔ-PÂK-SIS-K, making the word involve the meaning LITTLE. Since, however, 

 BO trace of this diminutive occurs in any of the several early forms of the name, 

 taken independently from the Indians, it would seem to be modern, and we may 

 conveniently omit it in the adoption of a standard form and meaning of the name. 



Other Explanations of the Word. — No explanation of the word whatever 

 has heretofore been published so far as I can find, and the only other one I know 

 consists in a suggestion, made to me some years age by Mr. James Vroom, of St. 

 Stephen, that it may be a corruption of the Micmac word BOKTABÂAK' meaning 

 GULF (Rand, English-Micmac Dictionary, 126). Nothing, however, except the 

 somewhat distant resemblance between the words favors this suggestion, and it 

 is not a serious competitor of the consistent explanation above given, as to the 

 substantial correctness of which I have personally no question. 



Summary. — The word BOCABEC is of Micmac-Passamaquoddy origin, a 

 corruption of PÔK-WË-PÂK, involving the roots PÔK-WËÔ-PÂK, meaning 

 literally NARROWS-RUNS OUT-TIDAL, or the RIVER THAT RUNS OUT 

 THROUGH TIDAL NARROWS, in description of the remarkable tidal Narrows 

 near its outlet. 



Pen7iiac. 



Location and Application. — The name of a small stream flowing into the 

 Nashwaak River from the east near its mouth, not far from the City of Fredericton, 

 in New Brunswick. It is pronounced locally PEN'-NE-AC— the PEN as in PENNY 

 and accented, the NE as in NEAR, and the AC as in PACK. 



History of the Word. — It appears first in a Report on the lands of the Saint 

 John River, 1783, by John Munroe, in the form PAMOUYACK {Report on Canadian 

 Archives, 1891, 29), but as that document is known to be full of errors, I take it 

 the word was intended for PANOUYACK. It is given as PENNUYACK on a fine 

 map of southern New Brunswick, by Sproule in 1786 {these Transactions, VII, 1901, 

 ii, 412), and in a very detailed map of the lower Nashwaak of about the same date 

 by that best of our early surveyors, Dougald Campbell, as PENUYACK. It is 

 given as PENNUYOCK in a letter of 1791 pubhshed in the Report of the Society 

 for the Propagation of the Gospel, for 1790-1. On Bonnor's Map of New Brunswick, 

 a fine provincial map, of 1820, it is PEN YACK; on Lockwood's of 1826, the next 

 map, it is PYNYAUK, doubtless an error for PENYAUK, in which form it appears 

 on BailHe's map of 1832. The earliest appearance of the modern spelling is on the 

 excellent Baillie and Kendall map of 1S31, where it is PENIAC, which was followed 

 by Wilkinson on his great map of 1859. This form was adopted with an additional 

 N, making PENNIAC, by Loggie in 1885, and by the Geological Survey map of 

 the same year; and all local usage, in newspapers, etc., now conforms to this 

 spelling, making it the standard form of the word. Thus, contrary to the usual 

 experience in such matters, the word has gained a letter in recent times, obviously 

 on a basis of utility, because PENNIAC expresses the local pronunciation much 

 better than does PENIAC, which implies a long sound to the E. 



Analysis of the Word. The Indians now living at Fredericton recognize 

 the word as belonging to their language, and give its form as PAN-WEE'-OK, 

 or BAN-WF-AK (in the spelling of my notes) ; and this form is confirmed by its 

 use as PAN-WE-OCK by Edward Jack, who knew the Indians and the place well 



