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Glossary

wdt_ID Term: Definition:
1 Acadian Pertaining to the French colonists of the Bay of Fundy Basin and their modern-day descendants around the world.
2 AGI Archivo General de Indias, Seville, Spain. This designation will be followed by a designation for the appropriate collection within this repository: PPC for the Papeles Procedentes de Cuba and ASD for the Audiencia de Santo Domingo. The collection designation will be followed by one or two sets of numbers. The first number indicates the legajo (bundle of documents) containing the cited document. The final number indicates a folio number within the legajo. Folio numbers are set off from the legajo number by colons.
3 aristocratic Reflecting the values and tastes or other characteristics of an aristocracy.
4 arpent French unit of land measurement encompassing approximately .9 of an acre. A square arpent measures 192 feet per linear side.
5 Ascension Present-day Ascension Parish, Louisiana.
6 ASD The Audiencia de Santo Domingo papers in the Archivo General de Indias, Seville, Spain. The number that follows indicates the legajo from which the cited document was drawn.
7 Assumption Parish Established in the 1770s by Acadian and Canary Island immigrants. Parish life centered upon the Catholic church at present-day Plattenville, Louisiana.
8 Atchafalaya River This stream runs from the lower Red River to Atchafalaya Bay in the Gulf of Mexico. It is considered the principal dividing line between the eastern and western Cajuns.
9 Attakapas Colonial administrative district encompassing the modern Louisiana civil parishes of Lafayette, St. Martin, Vermilion, Iberia, and St. Mary.
10 Baie des Ouines Present-day Saint Anne Bay, New Brunswick.
11 Baie Française Bay of Fundy
12 Baton Rouge Present-political capital of Louisiana. At the time of the Acadian exile, it was a small English settlement on the east bank of the Mississippi River.
13 Bay of Fundy The body of water lying between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
14 Bayou des Écores Present-day Thompson's Creek, the dividing line between East Baton Rouge and West Feliciana parishes (between Baton Rouge and St. Francisville).
15 Bayou Goula Settlement created by 1785 Acadian immigrants in the vicinity of the present Iberville Parish hamlet of the same name. The area was named for the Bayou Goula Indians who maintained a village there in the late seventeenth century.
16 Bayou Lafourche A major distributary of the Mississippi River, running from present-day Donaldsonville, Louisiana, to the Gulf of Mexico.
17 Bayou Plaquemine Brulée A small stream running through present-day Church Point, Louisiana. Many Acadian exiles migrated from the first Acadian settlement in the Opelousas District to this area by the mid-1770s. For additional information, see Carl A. Brasseaux, The Founding of New Acadia: The Beginnings of Acadian Life in Louisiana, 1765-1803.
18 beau-fils This French term can mean either father-in-law or stepfather.
19 beau-fils This term can mean either stepson or son-in-law.
20 beau-père This term can mean either father-in-law or stepfather.
21 Beaubassin This term identifies important place names in pre-dispersal Nova Scotia and in post-dispersal Louisiana. When used to denote birthplace among the exiles, the term refers to the region surrounding present-day Amherst, Nova Scotia. When used in the context of post-dispersal Louisiana, the term refers to a rural settlement along Bayou Vermilion, due east of present-day Carencro.
22 belle soeur This French term can mean either sister-in-law or stepsister.
23 belle-mère This French term can mean either mother-in-law or stepmother.
24 belle-soeur This term can mean either stepsister or sister-inlaw.
25 bis When these letters follow a number in a citation, the expression means that the page number is mistakenly repeated in the pagination of the collection's folios.
26 bousillage A mixture of mud and moss (and sometimes horse hair or deer hair) used as an infill material in the walls of Acadian and Creoles homes. It provided excellent insulation.
27 Côte Gelée Early Acadian settlement in the vicinity of present-day Broussard, Louisiana. For a more precise description of the settlement's boundaries, see Carl A. Brasseaux, The Founding of New Acadia: The Beginnings of Acadian Life in Louisiana, 1765-1803.
28 ca. circa, around
29 Cabannocé Colonial administrative district encompassingpresent-day St. James Parish
30 Cajun An English corruption of the term Acadian. The term is now applied to persons who share the Acadian-based culture that evolved in Louisiana over the past two-and-a-half centuries.
31 Canceau, Campseau Canso
32 Canso Early Acadian fishing village in northeastern Nova Scotia.
33 Cap Lomeron Present-day Yarmouth, Nova Scotia
34 Cap Neigre Camp Negro
35 Cape Breton Island Island off the northeastern coast of Nova Scotia.
36 Chaleur Bay / Baie des Chaleurs Body of water dividing northern New Brunswick from the Gaspé Peninsula.
37 Chebouctou Halifax, Nova Scotia
38 Chedabouctou, Shedabouctou Guysboro, Nova Scotia
39 Chicot Noir Acadian settlement in the vicinity of present-day Jeanerette, Louisiana.
40 Chignecto A loose pre-dispersal regional designation for the area between the Maccan, Nappan, and Hébert rivers on the east and the Shepody and Petitcodiac rivers on the west.
41 Cobequid Pre-dispersal Acadian settlements in the area surrounding present-day Truro, Nova Scotia.
42 Collatoral lines Close relatives who are not your direct ancestors or descendants, such as uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, and cousins.
43 colombage sur sol Medieval half-timber construction technique in which a house was built of a large framework of beams. The area between the beams was filled with light, insulating material. In Louisiana, this in-fill was bousillage. This traditional building technique required the first floor foundation beams to be laid directly on the ground hence, the sur sol designation. The obvious deficiences of this building technique in lower Louisiana frequent flooding, termites, and high annual rainfall levels soon became evident to the Acadians, who routinely constructed homes on piers by the early nineteenth century.
44 Creole A term meaning native to an area. It was used to differentiate between native Louisianians of any racial background (black as well as white) and individuals born in the Old World. The term was also applied to local varieties of vegetables and animals, including the once pervasive Creole pony.
45 Descendants Descendants, according to Webster's dictionary, are individuals "proceeding from an ancestor in any degree." Descendants of the Acadian exiles are presently scattered throughout the globe. The Acadian population worldwide is thought to be 750,000 to 1,000,000. The largest communities are found in New Brunwick (350,000) and Louisiana (500,000). Smaller communities are found in France, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New England, St. Pierre and Miquelon, Iles de la Madeleine, Texas, California, Georgia, and Florida.
46 dispensation of consanguinity ecclesiastical authorization for cousins to marry
47 District Colonial administrative unit comparable to a modern Louisiana parish. Districts were administered by commandants, officials who usually held civil and military authority. They functioned as the commanders of the local militia units. They also served as local judges. Commandants were assisted by sindics, the pre-cursors of modern police jurors.
48 engagé Technically, during the much of the colonial period, this term meant an indentured worker. In late colonial Louisiana, however, the term was applied to day laborers.
49 et seq. and following (used in reference to folio numbers)
50 Fausse Pointe Acadian settlement in the vicinity of present-day Loreauville, Louisiana. For a more precise description of the settlement's boundaries, see Carl A. Brasseaux, The Founding of New Acadia: The Beginnings of Acadian Life in Louisiana, 1765-1803.
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