Toponymy | Old words, new territories

A mountain, parks, a lake, several streets, paths and trails, and even a hole, officially inherited a name in 2023. The Commission de toponymie du Québec chose 12 finalists for its annual competition, with several toponyms that draw on the language of New France. Here are some of the names selected.

Trou des Campions, Saint-Pierre-de-Broughton, Chaudière-Appalaches

At the end of a hiking trail, in the forest near the village of Saint-Pierre-de-Broughton (just north of Thetford Mines), walkers arrive in front of… a hole. Or, more precisely, a “basin”, or a “natural depression of land forming a hollow closed on all sides”, writes the Commission. In the area, it is called the “Trou des Campions”.

Who were these “campions”? ” A campion is a vagabond, a bohemian who travels the countryside in search of a job,” says Wim Remysen, professor of sociolinguistics at the University of Sherbrooke and director of the Interuniversity Research Center on French in Use in Quebec (CRIFUQ). “We find this word, negatively connoted, in certain novels by Germaine Guèvremont, in the 1940s [dont Le survenant]and the word appears in the Dictionary of the rural Quebec language by David Rogers, published in 1977. » Local legend has it that a group of campions spent the winter in this basin.

3^e rang du Vieux-Verbal, Saint-Calixte, Lanaudière

No, this curious name does not refer to a dotty old man who abuses chatter… The origin of the name is not certain, but the Commission believes that it refers to the act of “verbalizing a path”. Wim Remysen adds other references. ” In the Glossary of speaking French in Canada of 1930, we learn that to verbalize a path, or a watercourse, means “to regulate how it will be established, how it will be maintained and by whom the work of establishment and maintenance will be carried out or paid for”, explains the linguist. For example, “the author Pamphile LeMay wrote in his True tales, in 1907: “This gap has never been verbalized”. The historian and photographer Pierre Lahoud specifies that it was the “grand voyer”, the official responsible for roads at the time of New France, who was responsible for “verbalizing”. “At the time, each censitaire had to maintain the portion of the road in front of their home. »

The Venice of the Beavers, Lac-Pikauba, Charlevoix

“I find it so beautiful and poetic! », exclaims Pierre Lahoud. Beavers flooded this sector of the controlled exploitation zone (zec) of Martres, in the north of Charlevoix (15 km north of Saint-Urbain), by erecting dams and huts on the Gros Bras stream. “The Big Arm!” We can’t say that we don’t have poetry in our place names! », says Pierre Lahoud. The complex arrangement, the Commission describes, is reminiscent of “the canals of Venice, Italy”. “It’s anthropomorphism at its best, we imagine the beavers in a gondola,” laughs Pierre Lahoud. “Just the name makes you want to go and see. » To get there, simply take the Dôme trail from route 381… then head through the woods (don’t forget high boots and mosquito repellent).

Rue du Minot-de-Pommes, Petite-Rivière-Saint-François, Charlevoix

A long time ago, in the hamlet of Grande-Pointe, on the banks of the river and at the foot of the Massif, orchards provided a currency – apples – which could be exchanged for a plot of land, writes the Commission. A bushel was equivalent to 35 pounds of apples. “The measure was once used in the old French provinces and, like the unit of surface area “arpent”, it was imported to Quebec,” explains linguist Wim Remysen. “We find the word in old account books from the time of New France. For example, Pierre Simon dit Delorme noted, in 1687, the prices worth “three minos of wheat, plus three and a half minos of peas and half a minos of white peas”. The word is formed from “mine” – another unit of measurement – ​​and the diminutive suffix “-ot”, the minot being worth half a mine. »

Verrou du Malin, Jacques-Cartier National Park, Capitale-Nationale

“The devil is everywhere,” notes Pierre Lahoud. “The devil, the Evil One, evokes mystery. It’s fascinating, and frightening. » The Evil One also hides in this sector of Jacques-Cartier National Park, where a river, a gorge, and now a mountain were named after him. The Verrou du Malin culminates at approximately 700 m at the meeting point between the valley of the Jacques-Cartier River and the Gorge du Malin, 23 km northwest of Camp-Mercier and 23 km southwest of L’ Stage. Why a “lock”? The Commission specifies that the “glacial lock is a rocky body which is more resistant to glacial erosion than the surrounding rocks and which blocks the flow of water in a valley”.

Other finalist names

To these five finalist toponyms are added rue du Train-de-Neige in Sainte-Adèle (which recalls the time when Montreal skiers took the railway rather than the Laurentides highway to “go up to the North”), the Raidillon lake on the North Shore (where the steep banks complicate access to water), the rocky Rupicole path in Potton (in biology, the adjective rupicole means “which grows on rocks” or “which lives in, on rocks”), the Flottage de Rimouski and Plus-Petit-au-Plus-Grand parks in Saint-Onésime-d’Ixworth in Bas-Saint -Laurent, the Ocarina woodland of Boucherville (named after a kind of small flute) and the path of a Flâneur in the Île d’Orléans (named in honor of Félix Leclerc and his A stroller’s notebook, published in 1961). The public is invited to make their “favorite” known by voting on the Commission de toponymie website until 1^er FEBRUARY.