4 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



P lace-nomenclature. 



I. ADDITIONS AND COEEECTIONS TO THE PLAN FOE A 



GENEEAL HISTOEY OF NEW BEUNSWICK. 



To this first paper of tlie series I have little here to add. I would 

 call the tnird period of our history The Acadian (rather than the 

 •French) Period. I have been unjust in my comments (on page 98) 

 upon existent works dealing with New Brunswick Indians, which I 

 meant to describe as inadequate. And I hope now to carry out in full 

 the plan outlined in this paper, 



II. ADDITIONS AND COEEECTIONS TO THE MONOGEAPH 



ON PLACE-NOMENGLATUEE. 



The figures prefixed refer in all cases to the pages of the original 

 monograph. 



181. The discussion of the methods Ox origin of place-names, on 

 this page, is incomplete. A fuller list of methods is given by Johnson 

 id his article on place names in Canada, in " Canada, an Encyclopedia," 

 1897, Vol. I. A thorough study of the origin of place-names is a 

 study in psychological philology, a subject which will receive more 

 study in the future than it does at present. 



In general it may be said that place-names originate in one or the 

 other of four somewhat distinct ways. First, they are repetitive of 

 earlier or aboriginal names, adopted for convenience usually without 

 question of their significance. Second, they are descriptive, either of a 

 physical peculiarity, of resemblance to a familiar object, of geographical 

 location, of an associated person or event, or of ownership. To this 

 class belong the great majority of place-names, including practically all 

 those of aboriginal or unlettered peoples, as will be found illustrated 

 later, under page 211. They are never given deliberately, but arise 

 as descriptive phrases, which by repetition become transformed into 

 proper names. Third, they are commemorative and deliberately chosen 

 to honour some person (saint, king, patron, official), or to recall 

 some place. Such names never arise naturally, but are given by persons 

 in authority, explorers, rulers or legislators, and are more frequently 

 applied to artificial than to natural geographical features or divisions. 

 Fourth, they are associative, or suggestive of some fanciful or senti- 

 mental feeling, legend, or idea, or of good omen. Found to a slight 

 extent among the names given by simple peoples, they reach their 

 highest development where there is a deliberate striving for effect in 

 names, as at pleasure resorts. 



