136 



ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



Eev. Father Laca.sse. (J. M. I., is IVoin tl)i' ikm\ of tlio Rov. Kalhcr Massd. 

 the eminent Jesuit missionary, who accompanit'd (.'haniphiin on hisniturn 

 to ('ana(hi in lOli:!. and died in 1(1 Kl. ai'tei- labt>uring earnestly amonijst 

 the aborigines and transhitinjj; tlic A])0stles' Creed, the Lord's Prayer. iS:c., 

 into the Montagnais dialeet. 



•• Ouananii he " is the ortiiograidiy em)»loved by the pri'sent French 

 tmd Indian gni(U's of lialve St. .lolin. It is found in tlie best lit(!rature 

 produced in the jtrovince of (Quebec where tlie nanu' originated, whether 

 English or Freneh. as well as in the otticial reports of the Crown Jiands 

 Dejtartment of the Provincial (Jovernment. in the officially ]»romulgated 

 game laws of the province, and in the voluminous mass of literature per- 

 taining to the sporting resorts of this northern country, issued l>y llic 

 (Quebec and Lake St. .lohn l{ailway Company. Vandal linguists who 

 have attemi)ted to anglicize the appropriate and original orthography ot 

 the Indian sound, have only succeiMled in cn-ating confusion, as we have 

 already si'cn. by evectinga Bai)ci conipo.sed of a score or moi-e of different 

 sjH'llings of the same word. Uniformity in the matter may nevei- be 

 h)oki'(l tor upon the basis of any one of tiie many anglicized forms of the 

 name. In French-Canadian literature, as well as in the Proviiu-ial 

 Government reports, "ouananitdie" it is and • ouanani( he'' it will ivmain. 

 The same is true of much of the best literary work done in recent years 

 by thoise P^nglish-speaking sportsmen who have devoted any consideral)le 

 attention to llu rish and to the sport which it affords the angler ; as for 

 instance of the article in the .May. IS'.i:}. BiirkwoixL by Lt.-Col. .Andrew 

 C. P. Ilagii'ard. I). S. ().. brother of the well-known novelist, of that in 

 Outirti/ for October. 1S!»3. by Fugenc .McCarthy of Syracuse, and of the 

 isame author's LcapiiKj Ouanau(r/i<\ of papers in Hliontimj and Fishiin/. in 

 the Aiiirririiri Fichl anil in /•'nrcst dud Strriiin, by K. . I. Myers of New 

 York, and of fre(|uent contributions by Dr. (u'orge Stewart. F.R.S.C.. 

 .F.R.CS.. and others to recent jieriodical literature. 



The form of si)elling adopted in IIV/as^t'* Di'tionarij iu\d the ('cntury, 

 'has nothing whatever to recommend it Itevond the fact that in recent 

 years it has been occasionally used In' writers upon ichthyological 

 subjects, just as a number of others have been. Xeither the English nor 

 the French jtronunciation of ■ winninish " conveys anything like tiie 

 sound of the Indian name, as all will readily testify who have heard tlie 

 melodious • wha-na'-nish " glide like a note of natures music from the 

 lips of a Montagnais hunter. Of all the anglicized forms of the word 

 " vpannanishe " comes nearest in pronunciation to the Indian sound, and 

 yet I have never met witli it but once. And even were it possible to 

 secure for its use uniformity, there is certainly no warrant for substituting 

 it for the original "ominaniche " and nothing to be gained by the change. 



The popular translation of the ^fontagnais '• ouananiche " is " little 

 salmon." It is true that ichi' or ishe is a Montagnais diminutive, but the 



