50 PHILOLOGY OF THE OUANANICHE 



1890, occurs " ouininiche "; and I have seen the name 

 spelled both " ouenanesh" and " ouinenish " by Quebec 

 fish -dealers. There have been undoubtedly many 

 other forms of the word, but for the score or more 

 given above I have quoted authorities, all of whom 

 are supposed to know more or less of the fish with 

 whose name they have struggled. In brief, we have 

 had ouananiche, winninish, wininnish, ouininnish, 

 wananishe, ouininiche, ouinaniche, ouinnaniche, win- 

 noniche, ouananish, ouaniche, winninisch, winnonish, 

 winanishe, winanis, wininish, winnouiche, wananish, 

 wannanishe, wannoniche, wenanishe, awenanishe, wan- 

 nanish, owaninach, ouenanesh, ouinenish. 



The form of spelling adopted in Webster's Diction- 

 ary and in the Century has nothing whatever to recom- 

 mend it beyond the fact that it has in recent years 

 been used by writers upon ichthyological and angling 

 subjects, just as a number of others have been. The 

 English pronunciation of " winninish " does not con- 

 vey anything like the sound of the Indian word, as 

 all will readily testify who have heard the latter 

 glide like a note of Nature's music from the lips of a 

 Montagnais guide. Of all the anglicized forms of the 

 word " wannanishe " comes nearest in pronunciation 

 to the Indian name, and yet I have met with it but 

 once. And even were it possible to secure for its use 

 uniformity, what warrant is there for substituting it 

 for the original " ouananiche," or what is to be gained 

 by the change ? And now that the original form has 

 obtained such widespread acceptance in English liter- 

 ature, it surely savors of literary barbarism to seek for 

 a phonetic spelling, by substituting, for a poetically 



