Ixviii PROCEEDINGS. 



but which I am informed, is used by the French Canadians to denote a 

 fork. On the west coast they have the word Jackatai\ a corruption of 

 Jacque a terre, Jack ashore, a name given to a Frenchman who has 

 deserted his vessel and is living an unsettled life ashore, arid indeed to 

 any French Canadian from the St. Lawrence visiting that part of the 

 island. The word please is used as an Englishman would say : " I beg 

 your pardon, what did you sayl" But this is simply the translation of 

 the French plait-il. 



We would scarcely have expected to find their speech set off by 

 importations from the classics. But some words seem to be of Latin 

 origin. In the prices current in the newspapers one may see fish 

 distinguished as tol xquolls or tal squals and quoted at certain figures. 

 This denotes fish bought and sold without assorting or culling, just as 

 they come. Dr Pilot suggests that the word is a corruption of the 

 Latin talis quails, such as it is, and it is likely that he is correct. 



Another word which he regards as of classic origin is longer. This 

 he supposes a contraction of the Latin longurius. I do not think it 

 necessary to go beyond the English language to account for the forma- 

 tion of the word. At all events, it is used in Newfoundland to denote a 

 pole, of length according to circumstances, stretched across an open 

 space. Thus they have flake longers, the horizontal pieces in flakes, on 

 which boughs are laid to form the bed on which fish are placed to dry ; 

 fence lonyers, small sized fence rails ; and staye longers, of larger size, 

 from five to seven inches in diameter, forming the floor or platform of 

 the fishing stage. 



There is another word in common use, which seems to me to have a 

 Latin origin, that is quid/laments, which means the things necessary in 

 travelling. To me it seems simply a corruption of impedimenta, which 

 meant exactly the same thing, though others prefer deducing it from the 

 word accoutrements. 



It will be seen that several of the old English words in use in New- 

 foundland are also found in New England. The question has been 

 raised whether each derived them from their common English parentage, 

 or whether the Newfoundlanders received them by intercourse with 

 New England fishermen visiting their coast I am decidedly of opinion 

 that most if not all the words of this stamp used in Newfoundland were 

 an original importation from the mother country. The intercourse of 

 New England fishermen was too limited and too transient to have so 



