186 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
History OF THE Worp.—It makes its earliest known appearance in an official 
document of the French period, a grant of land made in 1691 at the mouth of the 
river, in the form MARICADEOUY, which I think is without doubt a misprint for 
MACICADEOUY (These Transactions, V, 1899, ii, 307). I do not find it again in 
French records of any kind. Its earliest English use occurs in the journal of an early 
settler, John Boyd, in 1763, where it is spelled MAGEGADEWEE, though the form 
may have suffered editorial alteration (Kilby, Eastport and Passamaquoddy, 107). 
In the journal of another early settler, William Owen, of 1770,it appears as MAGE- 
GADEWY (Collections of the New Brunswick Historical Society, 1, 204). The form 
MACADAVICK which apparently is used in 1779 in the journal of Col. John Allen, 
who knew this region well, is probably a later editorial alteration (Kidder, Revolu- 
tionary Operations in Eastern Maine, 273), for in his map of 1786 he has MEQUICA- 
DEWICK (These Transactions, VII, 1901, ii, 264). A report made undoubtedly 
by Charles Morris Surveyor General of Nova Scotia prior to 1780, has MAGEGADA- 
VICK (Massachusetts Historical Collections, III, 1794, 94), and another official report 
of 1784, by Colonel Morse, has MAJIGGADEWY, surely a misprint for MAGIGGA- 
DEWY (Report on Canadian Archives, 1884, xxxiv, lii). Upon the fine map of 
Southwestern New Brunswick made by George Sproule, Surveyor General of New 
Brunswick in 1786, it appears as MAGUAGUADAVICK, adopted, without doubt, 
from a survey made of the river the year before, (These Transactions, VII, 1901, ii, 
412). The journals of Campbell and Peters, who in 1796-97 surveyed the river with 
great care for the Commissioners on the International boundary, and who worked 
for months in the company of Indian guides, use the forms, MAGAGAWDAVIC and 
MAGAGAUDAVIC respectively, while George Sproule, no doubt partially under 
the influence of his own earlier spelling, adopted the form MAGAGUADAVICK on 
the official map compiled from their surveys in 1798 for the Boundary Commission 
(Collections of the New Brunswick Historical Society, 111, 1907, 174; These Transac- 
tions, VII, 1901, ii, 254). This map by Sproule, though itself unpublished until 
lately, became the original for this part of the province on all subsequent published 
maps, which have followed its spelling except for the final K, making it the 
standard to our own day, though incorporating an error, as will later be noted. 
It was without doubt the impetus given this form by the prominence of its official 
use in the boundary disputes (for the United States claimed this river, though unsuc- 
cessfully, as the St. Croix of the International boundary), which has kept to the 
present the cumbersome spelling in face of the much simpler pronunciation. Probably 
the pronunciation originally matched the longer form, but clarified itself gradually 
to the present simplicity. 
ANALYSIS OF THE Worp.—The Indians now living at Passamaquoddy and on 
the Saint John River all recognize the word as Indian, and still use it among them- 
selves in its aboriginal form. Newell Paul, one of the most trustworthy of my 
Indian friends, gave me the word as MAG-IG-A-DA’-VIC (I quote my note-book), 
while a well-informed Indian at Passamaquoddy gave me MAG-EE-GA-DA’-VIK; 
and others have given similar forms. Edward Jack wrote it MA-GA-GUA-DAVIC 
(Journal of American Folk-Lore, VIII, 1895, 205); M. Chamberlain gives ME-KI’- 
KA-TE/-WEK (Maliseet Vocabulary, 59), and A. 8. Gatschet, a high authority on 
the Algonquian languages, gave it as MEGIGADEWIK (National Geographic 
Magazine, VIII, 1897, 24). These forms, all taken independently from the Indians, 
are obviously in substantial agreement with those cited above from the various old 
* records, thus showing very clearly that we possess without question the aboriginal 
form of the name, which may best be written MAG-E-GAD-A’-VIC, the G being 
hard, and the accented A long as in ATE. 
