See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/244484828

Gabriel Sagard’s Dictionary of the Huron Tongue (1632)

Chapter · January 1999

CITATION READS

1 638

1 author:

Rüdiger Schreyer
RWTH Aachen University
28 PUBLICATIONS   52 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Rüdiger Schreyer on 03 June 2014.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 Rüdiger Schreyer Gabriel Sagard's Dictionary of the Huron Tongue (1632). In Languages
Different in All their Sounds…Descriptive Approaches to Indigenous Languages of America. Ed. by
Elke Nowak. Münster: Nodus. pp. 101- 115.

1 GABRIEL SAGARD’S DICTIONARY OF THE HURON TONGUE (1632)

By Rüdiger Schreyer, RWTH Aachen

Abstract

In the seventeenth century Huron, a language of the Iroquoian group, was spoken by some 20,000
people in the area of the American Great Lakes. The language is now extinct. The first and last
dictionary of old Huron was published in 1632 by the French Recollet lay brother Gabriel Sagard
(fl. 1610 - 1650) as an addendum to his Long Voyage du Pays des Hurons. The full title and the
preface of the dictionary suggest that it was meant to help travellers and missionaries to Huronia. It
was compiled by Sagard during his ten months’ sojourn in the country from 1623 to 1624. Sagard’s
dictionary is of great importance for Huron linguistics. Furthermore, it is of interest in the
historiography of Amerindian linguistics: First, it is one of the earliest dictionaries of a North
American language, and second, it had a considerable impact on linguistic theory, especially on
eighteenth-century theoretical history of language. Nevertheless, the literature on Sagard’s
dictionary is scanty, inaccurate and unsatisfactory. This paper attempts to remedy this situation to
some extent by describing the Dictionnaire de la langue huronne within its literary, historical and
religious context, concluding with a brief analysis of its impact on Enlightenment linguistics,
especially the work of Lord Monboddo.

1.1 Introduction

The Age of Discovery was also the age of the discovery of languages. There are literally thousands
of published and unpublished dictionaries and grammars of ‘exotic’ languages, written before the
20th century. Usually these are the work of missionaries undertaken as an essential preliminary to
their endeavour to teach the Christian truth the newly discovered heathens. Historians of linguistics
are beginning to realise that these linguistic studies deserve more attention than they have so far
received, if only because a history of linguistics worth its salt cannot afford to neglect such a large
area of linguistic research.

This is especially true of the many works on the indigenous languages of the Americas. A look,
for instance, at the historical introductions to Iroquoian linguistics, leaves the reader with the
impression that the important work did not begin before the nineteenth century, and the really
 2

important work not before the twentieth (Schreyer 1996). It is true, some scholars do mention pre-
nineteenth century works, they are rarely the subject of serious analysis. Such research is not easy
for reasons familiar to all students of early linguistics. It seems to me, however, that electronic
corpora, databases and text-retrieval programmes could become a great help to the linguistic
historiographer. In particular the computer could take much of the tedium out of the study of large
text corpora, such as dictionaries. In this paper I am presenting some first findings based on a
computer-aided study of the first dictionary of the Huron tongue by Gabriel Sagard (1632).

1.2 Brother Gabriel Theódat Sagard (?-1650)

In the history of Canada Gabriel Sagard is known as the author of the first book on the life and
manners of the Hurons, an Indian tribe then living on the shores of the eponymous lake in the area
of Georgian Bay. Sagard worked in Huronia for ten months (1623-1624) as one of three Franciscan
missionaries. He wrote Le Grand Voyage du pays des Hurons (1632) followed by Histoire du
Canada (1636), a slightly altered version of the former book. His description of the „poor Hurons“
appeared at a time when his order thought it opportune to document their primacy in the Huron
mission. Intended to further the Franciscan interest it was an advertisement of the Recollect
achievements in New France. The book was of no avail.: In 1632 Cardinal Richelieu replaced the
Franciscans with the Jesuits. The Recollect pioneers never returned to New France.

In the history of Huron linguistics Gabriel Sagard is known, if not exactly studied, as the compiler
and editor of the first printed dictionary of Huron (1632), a language of the Iroquoian group now
extinct. He is mentioned by Chafe (1976), Pierrette-L. Lagarde (Campeau 1987: 375-447) and also
by Andresen (1990). To the best of my knowledge his curious Dictionaire has not been thoroughly
described let alone analysed (cf. Schreyer 1996). It is true, owing to its purpose and layout it does
not easily lend itself to analysis. The difficulties of information retrieval can, however, be eased
considerably, by entering the dictionary into an electronic database and adding supplementary
linguistic material culled from Sagard’s two narratives. In this exploratory essay I shall attempt an
accurate description of the dictionary and a brief history of its compilation.1 I will conclude with a
few remarks on its European influence. I will - wisely, I think - refrain from analysing the Huron
‘words’ contained in it, a task which should be reserved to an expert in Iroquoian languages.

1.3 Historical background

When Samuel de Champlain (1567?-1635) arrived in New France nobody knew the vernaculars of
the Indian tribes of the North. For the purposes of the fur-trade interpreters were needed, and so
Champlain sent young Frenchmen to live with the indigenous tribes and learn their customs and
their languages. These coureurs de bois, as they came to be known later on, then ventured into the
vast American forests, lived like Indians among the Indians and liaisoned between the Indian traders
and the French buyers. They were among the first Europeans of New France to speak Indian
vernaculars.2 They were also among the first informants of the Franciscan missionaries pious
Champlain had called in to save Indian souls. As usual in the history of Amerindian linguistics it

1 For more detail see Schreyer (1996) and Lagarde (1987).

2 The most important interpreter for the Huron trade was the (in)famous Étienne Brûlé or Bruslé (c. 1592-1533) who
by 1618 had spent 8 years among the Hurons and was fluent in their language.
 3

was, however, the missionaries who were the first to compile dictionaries and attempt grammatical
descriptions of these strange tongues, or as they would put it „to reduce them to rules“. The first
printed dictionary of Huron we owe to the combined effort of three Recollects who accompanied
Champlain on his voyage, Father Joseph Le Caron, Father Nicholas Viel and Brother Gabriel
Sagard.

Of these Father Le Caron had the greatest experience for he had been to New France and, indeed,
to Huronia before (1615- 1616). He had begun his linguistic and religious fieldwork among the
Indians using as informants either Frenchmen familiar with the savage languages or savages
themselves. Both were equally unwilling partners in this enterprise and Father Le Caron decided
that to learn the languages properly the missionaries had to go and live among the Indians
themselves. The Hurons, at the beginning of the 17th century, were a tribe of some 20 000 heads,
farming corn and beans. Le Caron believed this relatively sedentary people held more promise for
missionary efforts than the nomadic Algonkin. His first attempt of converting the Huron in 1615
had to be abandoned. Le Caron had, however, acquired a smattering of Huron. He had also drawn
up a „pretty correct dictionary, still to be seen and preserved as a relic" (Le Clercq 1973: 106) in the
17th century, but now unfortunately lost.

In a second attempt in 1623 Le Caron, Viel and Sagard established the first Franciscan mission
among the Hurons in the village of Carhagouha/Quieunonascaran. Their main occupation was the
learning of Huron and the compilation of a dictionary. They communicated with their informants by
gestures, drawing and pointing. The Hurons were very co-operative and even encouraged Sagard to
take his pen and write, explaining their conceptions „by figures, similarities, and external
demonstrations, sometimes by speech, and sometimes by tracing the thing on the ground with a
stick as best they could, or by body movements, without being ashamed of making very indelicate
ones“ (Sagard 1632: 88). After ten months among the Hurons Sagard and Le Caron returned to
Quebec, leaving Father Viel behind to continue his religious and linguistic fieldwork. The result of
their combined studies was a grammatical sketch of "rules and principles" of Huron (Le Clercq
1973: 249) and an improved dictionary (Le Clercq 1973: 210), now also lost, but probably the
foundation of Sagard’s printed dictionary of 1632.

1.4 Sagard’s Dictionaire

Sagard’s French-Huron dictionary, prepared, as he says, for the press in ten or twelve days, is
appended to his 1632 Grand Voyage under a separate title.3 It consists of a preface (10 pp.) and the
actual body of the dictionary (71 pp.), headed „Les mots François tournez en Huron“ (The French
words turned into Huron). Perhaps it is best characterised, as Sagard did, as a dictionary of useful
phrases. Indeed, it resembles the phrase-books compiled for the modern tourist, although its
structure is less transparent owing to the mixing up of alphabetic and semantic principles, which are
not too closely adhered to either. Its express purpose was to help a French visitor to make himself
understood. First and foremost it was to assist missionaries travelling to Huronia "for the salvation
and conversion of these poor wild Hurons" (Sagard 1632 [Dictionaire]: 11).

3 Dictionaire de la langue Huronne par la commodité de ceux qui ont a voyager dans le pays, & n'ont l'intelligence
d'icelle langue (Dictionary of the Huron Language for the Convenience of those who have to travel in this country
and have no knowledge of this language).
 4

It was kept as brief as possible to give the traveller merely those words and phrases its author
deemed essential for communicating with the Hurons. First-time travellers, writes Sagard (1632
[Dictionaire]: 9-10), would not be able in their speech to apply all the rules they might be given and
would often "make as many mistakes as they pronounce words, for it is only practice and long use
of the language that allows the use of rules“. ,

Sagard (1632 [Dictionaire]: 5) confesses that he is „ not very versed in the Huron language and
utterly incapable of making a good job of it“. He finds the Huron language rather poor, lacking
„words in several fields, and especially concerning the mysteries of our holy religion“ (Sagard 1632:
73). Moreover the rules of Huron are „as confused and difficult to recognise as the language is
imperfect“ (Sagard 1632 [Dictionaire]: 8-9, 11), explaining that "we are dealing with a savage
language nearly without rule and so imperfect“ (Sagard 1632 [Dictionaire]: 10). Clearly, Sagard
blames his own inability of reducing the ever changing Huron language to rules on the inherent
unruliness of the language itself. Small wonder the dictionary provides no grammatical rules or
paradigms.

1.5 The Macrostructure of the Dictionary

The letters of the French alphabet are used to represent both the French and its corresponding
Huron ‘words’. The French expression is given in regular fonts and separated from its Huron
equivalents by a comma or period. The Huron term is printed in italics. Some French words are
marred by printers errors; e.g. f and s (in their older shape) are sometimes mixed up. Probably more
misprints will occur in the Huron text, and indeed, Sagard offers his apologies, blaming the
shortness of time and the fact that the printer „could not observe all the points marked, which would
have been necessary on several capital letters, and others, which are not in use among us“ (Sagard
1632 [Dictionaire]:10).4
An Digraph
Animaux, nourrir animaux. Keyword(s)
Oyseaux. (Subheading)
Aigle. Sondaqua. French term. Huron Term.
Oyseau de proye. Ahoüatantaque .
etc.
Mousquites, Tachiey, Teschey. French term. Huron Term
Bestes à quatre pieds. (Subheading)
Vn cerf, Scotonon French term. Huron Term.
Originat, Eslan. Sondareinta.
etc.
Teste, la teste. Onontsiq. French term. Huron Term
Nourrir animaux (Subheading)
Qu’est-ce que vous norrissez? Tautein squandasquan? French term. Huron Term
etc.
Années. Keyword (s).
Une anné. Escate outichaye. Escate einhihiey. French term. Huron Term
etc.

4 This remark is clear evidence that Sagard recognised the insufficieny of the Roman alpabeth when it came to
representing Huron pronunciation.
 5

TABLE 1: Standard Column Layout

The pages of the dictionary are divided into two columns; Table 1 presents the standard layout of
these columns. Columns are separated into sections by headings of digraphs beginning with Aa and
ending with Yo. For ease of reference these digraphs (and sometimes trigraphs) are also placed
above each column. The sections thus marked off by digraphs are again split into subsections
headed by one or more keywords, the first of which begins with the two letters of the main section,
the second often being a semantically related term. Thus we find under Aa aagé, plus aagé, under
Ab abbayer, hurler and under Al aller, partir.

Each subsection consists of a list of words, phrases or sentences containing the keywords or terms
semantically related to them. The entries under aller, partir are as good an example as any. After
some phrases beginning with où as in Où vas-tu we get: N. où est, où est allée la B.? - T’en iras-tu?
- Ne t’en iras-tu point d’icy? - Iras-tu à N.? - Adieu ie m’en vais - Ie parts etc. Few subsections are
further divided by subheadings. Thus the section animaux, nourrir animaux has the three
subheadings, oiseaux, bêtes à quatre pieds and nourrir animaux.

Altogether there are 2561 words and phrases listed under their respective keywords. As one would
expect, the keywords are generally in alphabetical order, although there are some ten cases where
the order is not observed. The list of word and phrases itself follows neither an alphabetical nor any
recognisable conceptual order. Birds, for instance, are listed in the following sequence: Aigle,
Oyseau de proye, Coq-d’Inde, Gruë, Outarde, Canart, Perdrix, Cine, Tourterelle, Corbeau, Gay,
Chat-huant, Oyseau rouge, Autre qui n’a que la teste & le col rouge etc.

This haphazard assortment of birds is followed - still under the heading oyseaux- by the entries
writing pen, wing, egg, butterfly and fly. The principle of presentation, if principle it may be called,
seems to be free association: Wings, pens and eggs are parts or products of birds; flies, butterflies
and birds are airborne creatures. Similarly we find leg, nails, bone, head and foot lumped together
with ant and flea under the heading four-footed animals.

The French phrases and their Huron equivalents are separated by blanks into orthographic words,
but it is well-nigh impossible for the user to identify a specific Huron word with its French
equivalent. Moreover, the division of Huron phrases by blanks is inconsistent, and even if certain
strings of a phrase seem the same, their spelling often shows some variation.5 It is hard to tell
whether minor spelling variations do or do not reflect differences in grammar or meaning. For
instance, under the keyword appeller there is a series of questions beginning with comment while
the Huron translation variously begins with Toutatsi, Totatsé and Totatsi. Are these then equivalents
of comment or is there some additional lexical or grammatical meaning implied? Or do the different
spellings merely reflect the variation in pronunciation Sagard mentions in his preface?6 Sagard is
certainly aware of the problem of approximating Huron pronunciation by French letters7, but he
does not make differences in pronunciation explicit.

5 Such variation was, of course, very common in the French (ortho)graphy of the time.

6 there are slight or complete differences in the pronunciation of a word in two different places, within the same
village and even within the same cabin. (Sagard 1632 [Dictionaire]: 6)
7 „... it is not enough to be able to read and pronounce the words in our fashion, you must furthermore observe the
pronunciation and the accents of the country, otherwise you will find it very difficult to make yourself understood..“
 6

Similarly for grammar! Sagard’s collection of phrases sometimes resembles a paradigm, but
nowhere does he try to elucidate grammatical structure. This is hardly surprising in view of his
avowed inability to analyse Huron expressions into smaller grammatical and/or semantic units. This
inability may also explain why there is no Huron-French equivalent of the dictionary listing the
words and phrases important for a Frenchman to understand. Even a cursory glance at the phrases
will show that some are meant to be spoken by a Frenchman, others by a Huron. In I’ai de la barbe
(I have a beard.) the speaker is obviously French, as he would be in Me veux tu manger? (Do you
want to eat me?) or Ne pousse pas du vent ici, va t’en pousser dehors (Do not break wind here, do it
out side.) The Hurons did not sport beards but they farted unabashedly and were known to eat
people occasionally. Ils ne parlent pas encore Huron (They do not yet speak Huron.) or Vas-tu point
faire l’amour? (Are you not making love?) on the other hand are sentences which could only issue
from a Huron mouth and had better be placed in a Huron-French phrase-book.

1.6 Keywords and phrases

Altogether there some 173 keywords (see list), which may serve as a rough indication of what
conceptual areas were deemed useful for a foreigner to know. As one would expect, most of them
have to do with everyday life among the Huron: Activities such as

 eating, drinking, hunting, fishing, swimming, gardening, threshing, collecting wood, fetching
water, making a fire, cutting, preparing food, dancing, singing, laughing, playing games,
visiting, smoking, scratching, pissing, sleeping, dressing, washing, sewing,

 warfare (fleeing, killing, wounding, hitting, making prisoners, being afraid, arms), physical
states ( being hot, cold, hungry, tired, wet, weak, strong, ill, healthy, lazy, old, young, poor),
mental states and intellectual operations (knowing, loving, being annoyed, counting, virtuous),

 movement (sitting, running, coming, going, staying, climbing, falling, hiding).

 social relationships (lying, stealing, mocking, showing, meeting, helping, lending, borrowing,
showing, bartering, teaching, marrying, being busy).

 the physical environment (river, lake, earth, stone, tree, fruit, animals, village, house, tools,
utensils, furnishings).

The number of entries under a given keyword may roughly suggest the importance of the area of
life covered by the keyword: The most important activities are speak, carry, ask, give, make, come,
go, see and hunt in that order. The most comprehensive conceptual fields are body parts, animals,
family relationships, plants, stars and seasons, utensils and tools. The largest number of entries, 106
altogether, is found under the keyword parler (speaking), enough to demonstrate the importance our
missionaries attached to this activity. Under this heading the verb dire (say) alone occurs 72 times in
various forms and tenses. Other words under this keyword are parler (talk) and entendre
(understand). Obviously phrases within this conceptual field would be essential for general
communication, but especially for linguistic fieldwork:

Do I speak it well? I repeat once more, I understand it well, I do not understand it, You speak too
fast, I do not know what this means, Say it once more, What do you call a kettle? This is called a
skin etc.
 7

Even reading and writing have their keywords, and this although the Hurons could neither read
nor write, and were greatly astonished by the miraculous mind-reading powers these skills bestowed
on the white men. The only Huron keyword is also the very last one: Yoscaha has 17 entries; Sagard
renders it as Le Createur (The Creator). The phrases under this heading tell us much about the first
Recollect attempts to introduce the Christian faith. Here is a selection:
Il est au ciel He is in Heaven.
Les ames des defuncts n’endurent point. The souls of the dead do not suffer.
Les ames ne mangent pas The souls do not eat.
Le Diable ne craint point les Hurons. The devil is not afraid of the Hurons.

Unfortunately the keywords are listed in alphabetical order, which is not the best arrangement for
retrieving a phrase needed in a given situation. Furthermore, Sagard sometimes lumps together
words and phrases one would not normally expect under the same heading. Thus the double
keyword demander, donner (ask, give) are juxtaposed mainly, it seems, because they both start with
the letter d. They might have been more usefully placed together with the three keywords querir,
requerir, emprunter (ask for, require, borrow) and avoir, n’avoir quelque chose (have, not have
something.). The interference of the alphabetical and the conceptual principles of arrangement often
has unfortunate results: Phrases of similar meaning or even phrases containing the same (French)
words are found many pages apart.

Sagard’s dictionary is therefore anything but user-friendly. It is certainly, as he frankly admits,

„crudely put together“ (Sagard 1632 [Dictionaire]: 5), but then, and here Sagard seems to agree, it is
better than nothing at all. It is also the only Huron dictionary to appear in print for about 300 years.

1.7 Sagard's reception in Europe

Sagard Long Voyage was but the first detailed account of Huron life and manners. At the time
European interest must have been great as witnesses the new edition of 1636. This edition did
however appear without the dictionary.

The Relations of the Jesuits, who succeeded the Recollects as missionaries to the Hurons
contained a wealth of information on the Huron people and their language (Brébeuf 1636; Lafitau
1724, Charlevoix 1744). Some Jesuits became experts in Huron and even their few published
comments on this difficult language show much greater insight into the intricacies of Huron
grammar. In view of this it is amazing how little European scholars knew about Huron. In Reland’s
(1713:219) dissertation on the languages of the Americans we find only this:

The Huron are known to be a people of North America from geographical maps. Their language is
common to many other peoples and the Iroquois use it frequently. They do not have the labial letters B. F.
M. P. and therefore they need not close their lips when speaking.

This remark is followed by 42 Huron words excerpted from Lahontan’s best-seller Mémoires de
l’Amérique Septentrionale of 1703, which was republished and translated many times and was
perhaps the best-known work on the Indians of the American Northeast. But where is Sagard? His
cursory remarks in the body of his book and the introduction to his dictionary represent the first
attempt at a description of Huron and the dictionary itself is far more important and comprehensive
than Lahontan’s scant list.
 8

Sagard’s influence on the European mind is anything but clear. Andresen (1991) states that
Sagard’s work travelled well across the Atlantic, but evidence is hard to find. I do not know of a
study of the reception of Sagard’s book or his dictionary. I happen to know, however, that Sagard
was known to John Locke, an avid reader of travel accounts. But who else knew the work? The
Jesuits certainly did, although they did not think much of Sagard’s linguistics and said so.
Charlevoix (1682-1761) (1744 II: 49) judged that his dictionary „shows that neither he nor anyone
of the people he could consult knew this difficult language well“.

In particular one must not rely on the vocabulary of Brother Gabriel Sagard, Recollect, which has been
quoted in support of this assumption; even less so on those of Jacques Cartier and Baron de La Hontan.
These three authors have taken haphazardly terms, some from Huron, others from Algonquin, which they
have badly remembered, and which often meant something entirely different than they thought. And how
many errors must have been caused by such misunderstandings by a lot of travellers? (Charlevoix 1744
III: 196)

What we know for certain is that Sagard’s book, and especially his remarks on the non-existence
Huron grammar, provided the inspiration to Lord Monboddo’s (1714-1799) work on the origin of
language, for Monboddo says so. He certainly patterns his conjectures on the form of the primitive
language on Sagard’s description of Huron (Hanzeli 1984: 222). But Monboddo states
unambiguously that editions of Sagard’s book are very rare. Thus it is not impossible that
Monboddo’s work put Sagard back on the map of the Eighteenth century. After Monboddo the work
is mentioned in Dugald Stewart’s (Stewart 1877 IV: 30) discussion of the „Origin and History of
language“. However, Stewart knew him only at second hand via Monboddo. Heckewelder (1743-
1823) and Duponceau (1760-1844) knew and criticised Sagard in their strictures on Monboddo’s
mistaken ideas (Andresen 1991:96). It is therefore doubtful whether they had ever seen or read the
original or whether they thought it worth reading.

In sum, we have no clear picture of the reception of Sagard’s work in the 17th, 18th and 19th
centuries. Its is true, his knowledge of the Huron language was much poorer that of his Jesuit
successors and critics. But Sagard was a pioneer and his dictionary of Huron a pioneering work of
Huron linguistics. It merits further study.
 9

Appendix A: Keywords of Sagard’s Dictionaire de la Langue Huronne (1632)

Keywords Entries Couper 16

Aagé plus aagé 6 Courir, haster, passer 16
Abbayer, hurler 2 Cracher 4
Aller, partir 47 Crainte, auoir peur 9
Animaux, nourrir animaux 0 Croire 5
Oyseaux 25 Cuisiner, faire cuire sa viande 38
Bestes à quatre pieds 40 Dancer 13
Nourrir animaux 10 Demander, donner 58
Années 3 Demeurer, ne bouger 22
Appeller, s'appelle 8 Desrober 11
A qui est cela? 3 Dessus, dedans, dessous 7
Armes 15 Dormir, auoir sommeil 21
Arracher la barbe, &c. 4 Dresser le potage, partager, sentir 31
Astres, iournées, esté, hyuer 59 mauuais
Attendre, patienter 3 Eau, aller querir de l'eau 16
Auoir, n'auoir quelque chose 23 Embarquer, nager 19
Ayder, l'ayder, secourir 6 Empesché, occupé 6
Aymer, affectionner quelqu'un 12 Enseigner 9
Ayse, estre content, rire 3 Entrer 4
Baailler 1 Escrire 3
Barbe 4 Esguyser, &c. 7
Battre 19 Estonner 4
Beau, pretieux, de valeur 17 Exhorter 5
Blesser 9 Faim, auoir faim 4
Bois, au bois 24 Faire quelque chose, forteresse 49
Bon, auoir vertu 12 Fasché, estre en cholere 7
Boucher, couurir, fermer 6 Fermer, ouurir la porte 13
Braire, crier 5 Festins 13
Brusler, bruslure 11 Feu 31
Cabane 26 Fort, estre fort, foible 8
Cassé, rompu, fendu 1 Froid, auoir froid 9
Cela, celuy-la 1 Fumée 5
Changer, permuter 1 Fuyr, s'enfuyr 3
Chanter 7 Garder 5
Chasser, desnicher, voler, à la chasse 32 Ga 3
Chaud, chauffer 8 Gr 3
Chemin, voye, adresse 4 Gratter 3
Chercher, chasser, negotier 13 Guerir, medicamenter 11
Cimetière 1 Guerre, tuer, battre 27
Cognoistre 11 Guery, se porter bien 6
Combien 10 Habiller, se desabiller 19
Compter 8 Habits, peaux 22
Conseil 8 Iardiner 17
Coucher, se coucher 15 Ietter, ruer 10
Coudre 6 Image, figure, pourtrait 3
Couleur 5 Ioüer 13
 10

Laisser, ne toucher 8 Prester, emprunter 16

Lassé, fatigué 3 Prisonniers 3
Laver, nettayer 18 Protester, asseurer 1
L'eau, Lac, esmeu 13 Querir, Requerir, Emprunter 24
Liberal, chiche, auare 4 Remercier 1
Lier, attacher 13 Rencontrer 7
Lire 5 Reposer 5
Longueur, largeur, grosseur, 30 Retirer 2
pesanteur, mesure, &c. Retourner, rebrousser chemin 10
Maistre, estre le maistre 5 Reuenir, ne reuenir 29
Malade, estre malade, mourir, morts 21 Riche, estre riche 5
Manger 49 Rire 9
Mariage 15 Riuiere, Lac, & des accidens 13
Matachier, peindre, parer 16 Rompre, Rompu 7
Maux, maladies, douleurs 16 S'asseoir 18
Membres & parties du corps humain 78 Scauoir au vray 6
Mener, Amener 8 Serrer, cacher, & à mettre 16
Menteurs 4 S'estonner 3
Meschant, point d'esprit, vicieux 13 Seul, estre seul 7
Meubles, mesnages, outils 59 Soif, auoir soif, boire 7
Monstrer, faire voir 7 Songer 4
Monter, descendre 12 Sortir, faire sortir dehors 6
Moqueurs, se moquer 8 Temps, saisons, diuersité de temps 26
Mordre 7 Tenir 2
Moucher 2 Terre, la terre, pierres, &c. 13
Moüillé, seiché 9 Tirer quelque chose, Tirer arquebuse 11
Nager, baigner, plonger 7 Tomber, choir, luiter 9
Nations, de quelle nation 26 Toussir 4
Nombre, le nombre 32 Traiter, eschanger 18
Où est, où est-ce, où sont-ils allez? 15 Tuer, faire mourir 10
Oublier 4 Veoir, regarder 39
Oüyr 4 Viande, mangeaille 19
Parentage & consanguinité 71 Vien, Viendra, Venu 48
Paresseux 7 Village, au village 12
Parler 106 Visiter, visite 9
Pauure, pauureté 5 Vouloir, ne vouloir 12
Penser, auoir dans la pensée 10 Yoscaha 17
Percé, cassé 10
Perdre, perdu, esgaré 2
Pescher 3
Petuner 20
Peu, beaucoup, quantité 20
Peut, ne peut, pouuoir 5
Piller, battre le bled 12
Piquer, piqué 4
Pisser 12
Plantes, arbres, fruicts 61
Pleurer 8
Poissons 17
Porter 72
Pousser quelqu'vn 1
 11

LITERATURE

ANDRESEN, Julie Tetel

1990 Linguistics in America, 1769-1924: A Critical History. London & New York:
Routledge.
BRÉBEUF, Jean de S.J (1593-1649)
1636 Relation de ce qui s'est passé en la Nouvelle France en l'année 1636. Envoyée au
R. Père Provincial de la Compagnie de Iesus en la Province de France. Par le P.
Paul le Ieune de la mesme Compagnie, Superieur de la Residence de Kebec. Paris:
Sebastian Cramoisy.
----- 1957 Les relations de ce qui s'est passé au pays des Hurons Hurons (1635-1648). Ed.
by Theodore Besterman. Genève: Droz.
CAMPBELL, Lyle and MITHUN, Marianne (eds.)
1979 The Languages of Native America. Austin University of Texas Press.
CAMPEAU, Lucien, S.J.
1987 La mission des Jésuites chez les Hurons 1634 - 1650 suivi de La Formation des
Noms des peuples et de bourgades en Huron par Pierrette-L. Lagarde.
(=Bibliotheca Instituti Historici S. I., vol. 46). Montréal: Éditions Bellarmin and
Rome: Institutum Historicum S. I.
CHAFE, Wallace L.
1976 "Siouan, Iroquoian, and Caddoan". Sebeok I 1976: 527-571.
CHARLEVOIX, Pierre François Xavier de (1682-1761)
1744 Histoire et Déscription Générale de la Nouvelle France. Avec le Journal
Historique d'un Voyage Fait par l'Ordre du Roi dans l'Amérique Septentrionale. 3
vols. Paris: Didot.
1923 (1744) Journal of a Voyage to North America. Ed. by Louise Phelps Kellog. Chicago: The
Laxton Club.
HANZELI, Victor Egon
1969 Missionary Linguistics in New France. A Study of Seventeenth and Eighteenth
Century Descriptions of American Indian Languages. The Hague: Mouton
1984 "De la connaissance des languages indiennes de la Nouvelle France au
dix-septième et dix-huitième siècles". Pour une histoire de la linguistique
Amerindienne en France: Hommage a Bernard Pottier. Ed. by Sylvain Auroux
and Francisco Queixalos 1984: 209-225. Paris: A. E. A.
HOIJER, Harry
1973 "History of American Indian Linguistics". Current Trends in Linguistics. Vol. 10.
Ed by Thomas A. Sebeok. The Hague and Paris: Mouton. 657-676.
LAFITAU, Joseph François, S.J (1681-1746)
 12

1974 (1724) Customs of the American Indians Compared with the Customs of Primitive Times.
Ed. and translated by William N. Fenton and Elizabeth L. Moore. 2 vols. Toronto:
The Champlain Society.
LAGARDE, Pierrette-L.
1987 "La formation des noms de peuples et de bourgades en Huron". Campeau 1987:
375-447.
LAHONTAN, Louis Armand de Lom d'Arce, baron de (1666-1715)
1703 Memoires de l'Amérique Septentrionale, ou la Suite des Voyages de Mr. le Baron
de Lahontan. Qui contient lan description d'un grande etenduë de Païs de ce
Continent, L'interrêt des François & des Anglois, leurs commerces, leurs
navigations, leurs Moeurs & les coutumes des sauvages &c. Avec un petit
Dictionaire de la langue du Pais. Le tout enrichi de Cartes et de Figures. La Haye:
Freres L'Honoré.
1970 (1703) New Voyages to North America by the Baron de Lahontan. Repr. ed. 1703. 2 vols.
Ed by R. G. Thwaites. (Burt Franklin Source and Research Works Series 675.
American Classics in History and Social Science 177). New York: Burt Franklin.
LE CLERCQ, Chrestien O.F.M (fl. 1641-1695) 1691
Etablissement de la foi dans la Nouvelle France, contenant l's histoire des
Colonies Françaises, et des Découvertes, qui s'y sont faites jusques à present. 2
vols. Paris: Amable Auroy.
1973 (1881) First Establishment of the Faith in New France.By Father Christian Le Clercq,
Recollect Missionary. Translated with notes by John Gilmary Shea. New York: J.
G. Shea.
MITHUN, Marianne
1979 "Iroquoian". The Language of Native Americas: Historical and Comparative
Asessment. Ed. by Marianne Mithun and Lyle Campbell. Austin & London:
University of Texas Press. 133-212.
MONBODDO, James Burnet, Lord (1714-1799)
1967 (1773-1792) Of the Origin and Progress of Language. 6 vols. Facsimile ed. Menston:
Scolar Press.
RELAND, Adrian (=RELANDUS, Hadrianus)
1708 „Dissertatio des Linguis Americanis“. Dissertationum miscellanearum pars tertia,
et ultima. Bibliopolae: Gulielmus Broedelet. 143-229.
SAGARD, Gabriel Théodat (?-1650)
1632 Le grand voyage du pays des Hurons, situé en l'Amerique vers la mer douce, ès
derniers confins de la Nouvelle France, dite Canada. Avec un dictionaire de la
langue Huronne pour la commodité de ceux qui ont a voyager dans le pays, & n'ont
d'intelligence d'icelle langue. Par F. Gabriel Sagard, Recollet de S. François, de la
province de Denys en France. Paris: Denys Moreau.
 13

(1636) Histoire du Canada et voyages que les freres Mineurs Recollects ont faicts pour la
conversion des infidelles. Divisez en quatre livres... Paris: Claude Sonnius.
1939 (1632) Sagard's Long Journey to the Country of the Hurons. Ed. by George M. Wrong,
transl. by H.H. Langton. (Publications of the Champlain Society no. 25). Toronto:
Champlain Society.
SCHREYER, Rüdiger
1996 „Take your Pen and Write. Learning Huron: A Documented Historical Sketch“.
...and the Word was God. Missionary Linguistics and Missionary Grammar. Ed.
by Even Hovdhaugen.. Münster: Nodus. 77-121.
SEBEOK, Thomas A. (ed.) 1976
Native Languages of the Americas. Vol. I. London & New York: Plenum Press.
STEWART, Dugald (1753-1828)
1877 (1793) The Collected Works of Dugald Stewart. Ed. by Sir William Hamilton. Edinburgh:
T. & T. Clark.
SULTE, Benjamin
1907 "Étienne Brulé". Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada 3rd ser., 1: 97-126.
THWAITES, Reuben Gold (ed.) (1853-1913)
1898 Travels and Explorations of the Jesuit Missionaries in New France 1610 - 1791.
Vol. 28: Hurons, Iroquois, Lower Canada 1645-1646. Cleveland: Burrows Bros.

View publication stats