[ganong] INDIAN PLACE-NOMENCLATURK. 285 



Pugwash. 



The present name of a Harbour, River, and Village, on the north coast of Nova 

 Scotia, not far from Baie Verte. 



This name is derived by Rand, of course our very best authority upon such 

 matters, from the Micmac PAGWËSK meaning A SHOAL {First Reading Book, 97), 

 or SHALLOW WATER (Micmac-English Dictionary, 187, 127). In the last-cited 

 place he gives a further valuable hint by making PAGWESK and PAGWEK equiv- 

 alent terms, while in his English- Micmac Dictionary, 233, we find that PAAGWËK 

 is a topographical term meaning A SHOAL, "of rocks in the water." Thus it seems 

 quite clear that the first part of the word, PAGW or PAAGW, is the exact Micmac 

 equivalent, in root and meaning, of the Maliseet-Abenaki POKWA, meaning SHAL- 

 LOW, already considered (page 282). Turning now to the characteristics of the 

 place Pugwash, in order to ascertain whether the root is thereby explained, we have 

 no difficulty in deciding. Thus Lockwood, in his Brief Description of Nova Scotia, 

 London, 1818, 50, says that Pugwash is "a blind little harbour, with a reef or ledge 

 at its eastern point, and at its mouth a bar of 18 feet." Speaking of this reef or 

 ledge, the Sailing Directions, 89, say, — "Pugwash Reef extends f mile northwest- 

 ward from Pugwash Point, and dries out about half that distance. There are rocky 

 patches, with 11 and 12 feet water, f mile off the point to the northward, and others 

 farther to the eastward, a full mile out from the shore." This shoal or reef is rep- 

 resented clearly upon the charts, and is thought sufficiently remarkable to be rep- 

 resented on the large-scale Geological map, which does not otherwise represent any 

 feature of this kind along this coast. Furthermore, aside from this shoal, all the 

 testimony of charts, Sailing Directions and descriptions agree that the Harbour is a 

 good one, with sufficient water for vessels, and by no means to be characterized as 

 "shallow." The word PUGWASH seems to me therefore undoubtedly founded upon 

 the Micmac PAAGWËK, meaning, as mentioned above, A SHOAL, referring to 

 rocky reefs, and describing the prominent and distinctive rocky shoals at the eastern 

 entrance to the Harbour. In the absence of any other such place along this coast, 

 the Indians would find it entirely natural to describe this harbour as "the place 

 where the (rocky) shoal is." 



But although the general meaning of the word is thus clear, it remains to be 

 explained why the Micmac form of the word is PAGWESK, containing an S, when 

 the term from which it comes is simply PAAGWEK or PAGWEK. This, also, 

 seems to me quite clear. PAGWEK is simply a topographical term, describing any 

 rocky shoal; in order to make such a word apply to a particular place as a place-name, 

 the Indians invariably add a locative suffix, — EK, -OOK, -K, etc. This would make 

 the present word PAGWEKEK. In such cases, however, where the addition of the 

 locative brings two K sounds in close succession, the Indians seem to have softened 

 the final K by the interposition of a CH sound, making the locative CH or CHK, as 

 already explained under CAMSOGOOCH (page 264). Thus our word in full would 

 be PAGWEK-ECHK which the Indians themselves undoubtedly condensed to 

 PAGWECHK, which Rand naturally caught as PAGWESK. I think there is no 

 doubt as to the correctness of this interpretation. 



Naturally I have sought the early forms of the word as an aid to its interpre- 

 tation, but have not been able as yet to discover an earlier use than that on Purdy's 

 Map of Cabotia, of 1814, where it appears as POGWASH. This form is not only 

 consistent with the interpretation above given, but even supports the identity of the 

 root PAGW with POKW of the Maliseet-Abenaki word meaning SHALLOW. 



