44 PHILOLOGY OF THE OUANANICHE 



instead of " ouan," and give the " i " its English sound ; 

 thus, " win " instead of " wan," the " ou," of course, 

 having the force of our " w." Thus have originated 

 many of the varying forms of the word. 



It is rather remarkable that Mr. W. R. Gerard, in 

 an article in the New York Sun of July 30, 1895, on 

 "Adopted Indian Words," should give "wininish" as 

 " the name of a fish of the Northern lakes, from Ojib- 

 wa 'winin,' fat, and the derogatory suffix '-ish." ; It 

 is quite true that because the ouananiche does not go 

 down to fatten itself in the sea like its congener, the 

 Salmo solar, but spends all its life in the rapid waters 

 of inland streams, it is often much slimmer in shape 

 than the ordinary salmon, while as to its lack of " fat- 

 ness" in another sense, all who have opened, cooked, 

 or eaten it will agree that there is less oiliness about 

 it than in the case of the ordinary salmon. However 

 near this form of the name may come, nevertheless, 

 to the Ojibwa equivalent for leanness, or lack of fat, 

 the circumstance is only a coincidence. I have yet to 

 learn of the name having been applied to fish in any 

 part of the country in which the Ojibwa language 

 ever held sway, or to any other fish anywhere, than 

 the fresh-water, dwarfish salmon of northern Canada 

 and the northeastern States that never goes out to 

 sea. " Wininish " is not from the Ojibwa dialect at 

 all, but simply an English corruption of the original 

 French spelling of the Montagnais " ouananiche." 



There are many reasons for preferring " ouananiche " 

 to all the other forms of the name. It is true that its 

 orthography is French, but French was the original 

 spelling of the written word. The name of the fish is, 



