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Re: Translation of French fur trader slang



This may or may not be relevant but could there be a connection with Sacajawea--  or rather with the root stem of her name? Below is an excerpt from a blurb on the site of the U. S. Mint (announcing the dollar coin) at http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/golden_dollar_coin/index.cfm?action="">
 
Steve Green
Western Folklife Center
 
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Sacagawea or Sacajawea?

Various historians disagree over the pronunciation, meaning- either "Boat Launcher" or "Bird Woman", and spelling of her name - listed as either Sacagawea or Sacajawea, as well as a few other spellings, but all agree that her bravery and fortitude were instrumental to the success of Lewis & Clark's "Corps of Discovery."

We have decided to use the spelling "SACAGAWEA" for our new dollar coin, based on several contemporary works on this topic.

To quote from a recent publication:

    "Translated, her name means 'Bird Woman,' and in their attempts to spell the Indians words, Lewis and Clark used variations of 'Sah-ca-gah-we-ah' and 'Sah-kah-gar-we-a.' (In 1814, when a version of the journals appeared, an editor changed the spelling to Sacajawea, which was the preferred spelling until recently, when most historians and official publications reverted back to Sacagawea.)

    Lewis & Clark. The Journey of the Corps of Discovery. An Illustrated History by Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997. Page 92.

Additional references to the Sacagawea spelling can be found in Stephen E. Ambrose's "Undaunted Courage(Simon & Schuster, 1996) and on PBS's Web site for its critically acclaimed series on the Lewis and Clark expedition.

 
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, July 24, 2002 9:02 AM
Subject: Re: Translation of French fur trader slang

Lara: The first possibility that comes to mind is "Sacre chien", with an acute accent on the last e, pronounced drawn out, meaning "holy dog". It may be just like the American "holy cow" in an _expression_ of awe or other. But, there may be another, linguisticly more accurate explanation.
Ellen Lefebvre
-----Original Message-----
From: Friedman-Shedlov, Lara [mailto:lara.friedman-shedlov@MNHS.ORG]
Sent: Wednesday, July 24, 2002 10:56 AM
To: ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU
Subject: Translation of French fur trader slang

This is slightly off topic, but I have been helping some folks in our museum exhibits department translate some French documents related to an exhibit they are preparing on the fur trade.  Apparently, a favorite profanity of the voyageurs was "saccaje chien" (with an acute accent over the "e" at the end of saccaje).  I know that chien means dog, but I have no idea what saccaje means.  I wondered if it was perhas a corruption or running together of some other french words along the lines of "ca que je" or "chaque" or something like that.  Any French speakers or experts on the voyageurs have any ideas how to translate this _expression_?
 
--Lara Friedman-Shedlov

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Lara Friedman-Shedlov
lara.friedman-shedlov@mnhs.org
Minnesota Historical Society