22 TRANSACTIONS. 1 897-8. 



That writers who came after 1700, and who never had 

 any intercourse with the nation before its dispersion, took 

 upon themselves to modify the spelling and pronunciation of 

 the name by making it "Ottawa "and " Outaouais," has 

 no effect on the above authorities ; but it puzzles everybody 

 and makes us believe that there is yet a problem to be solved 

 in that direction. 



There is no doubt that Ottawa and Outaouais are both 

 wrong. 



The French made " Outaoua " out of " Ondatahoua." 

 No other explanation can stand the test of the authors of the 

 17th Century. The plural took k. 



The final sound is a broad and open note : oua, ouat, ouak, 

 ouac, Sack. In French (Normandy) letter a is broad, like aw 

 in English. When you meet with ouak and ouac, rest as- 

 sured that this is written to satisfy the pronunciation of some 

 Frenchmen who use the flat a, such as in Gignac, Frontenac, 

 Balzac (south west of France.) 



Ondata, if corrupted into Outa as I believe, is less easy to 

 explain. One would conceive that it was Oudata, but all the 

 printed works and all the manuscripts of the 1 7th Century 

 have On instead of Ou. 



The figure 8 placed in the centre of the word is there to 

 represent a soft w : Sanakong for Wanakong, Kaminisk8e for 

 Kaminiskwe. Bight is " huit " in French and must be sound- 

 ed with that particularly soft tone the letter u has in the 

 north and west of France. It is not ou nor w ; to pronounce 

 it you must round your lips and try to whistle softly. It is 

 not generally found practicable to any other people but those 

 who have used it from the cradle. That sole letter in the 

 mouth of a man suffices to detect how far his origin is French. 



For instance, ask an Englishman to pronounce Hta^on — 

 and hear the word from the tongue of a Frenchman, you will 

 understand that the French u is not at all like the English 

 one. 



Now that we have said that Outaoua comes from Onda- 

 taoua, let us see the opinion of modern authors who have 

 given a different etymology without consulting the true 

 sources in this matter. 



Some suppose that the expression, Grandes Oreilles ap- 

 plied to the Outaouas is a translation of the latter name. 

 We have already shown that Ondataoua means the Men of 

 the Woods. The French said Grandes Oreilles : Large Ears, 

 for the same reason they qualified them also Cheveux Releves, 



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