> Exactly. Interestingly enough the Merriam-Webster online
> dictionary
> notes that the term may be derived from a group, the
> Montagnaise I
> believe, who speak an Algonkian language.
Montaignais is more or less a dialect of Cree. Of course, what distinguishes a dialect from a language is mostly opinion and small arms. The case could be made that its the same language as James Bay Cree. They are about as different different as, say, Steinbach Plautdietsch (an example you might be familiar with) and standard German.
That comparison is sort of off the top of my head, so don't go quoting me as an expert on that. My Plautdietsch is better than my Cree, and I haven't spoken either in years.
At any rate, I wouldn't put too much faith in the story that its a Montaignais word either. As a former lexicologist, I know how often dictionaries get things wrong. I've heard that "eskimo" is a word for "meat-eater", "snowshoe people", and I've heard that it's Cree for "cock-sucker" or some similar insult. I'm skeptical until I see someone with a well attested word in some variant of Cree that sounds like "eskimo" and something to show that the HBC had some contact with them around the same period when "eskimo" is first attested.
On the other hand, it's not exactly a world shaking issue.
Scott Martens
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