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Book/Printed Material Algonquin Grammar or on the Natives of North America, with the Description of the Country, Journals of Voyages, Memoirs, Remarks on Natural History, Et Cetera, Et Cetera. Grammaire algonquine ou des sauvages de l'Amerique septentrionale, avec la description du pays, journaux de voyages, memoires, remarques sur l'histoire naturelle &etc., &etc

About this Item

Title

  • Algonquin Grammar or on the Natives of North America, with the Description of the Country, Journals of Voyages, Memoirs, Remarks on Natural History, Et Cetera, Et Cetera.

Other Title

  • Grammaire algonquine ou des sauvages de l'Amerique septentrionale, avec la description du pays, journaux de voyages, memoires, remarques sur l'histoire naturelle &etc., &etc

Summary

  • Louis Nicolas (active 1667-75) was a French Jesuit who in 1664 was sent to Canada as a missionary, where he remained until 1675. He traveled widely and developed a keen interest in the people, languages, flora, and fauna of New France. He wrote three major works, none of which was published in his lifetime but which survived in manuscript form: Histoire naturelle des Indes occidentales (Natural history of the West Indies); the pictorial manuscript known as the Codex Canadensis; and the work presented here, Grammaire algonquine ou des sauvages de l'Amérique septentrionale (Algonquin grammar or on the natives of North America). Nicolas lived for a time at the Jesuit habitation in Sillery (in present-day Quebec). In 1667 he left on his first mission, traveling with Father Claude Allouez to the Ottawa near Lake Superior. He later spent a year in the Iroquois lands south of Lake Ontario. He returned to Sillery in 1671 and, having perfected his knowledge of Algonquin, wrote his grammar between 1672 and 1674. Nicolas's manuscript is heavily marked with his own revisions, especially the initial pages, in which he outlines a grand plan to produce not only a grammar of Algonquin but also a complete catechism in the language; as well as a topography of the New World, including a natural history of its plant and animal life; and a work on the politics, customs, and religion of the natives. The manuscript is signed "Messire Louis Nicolas Prêtre" (Louis Nicolas, Missionary Priest), and dedicated to the Dauphin, the heir to King Louis XIV. Never very successful as a missionary, Nicolas returned to France in 1675 and was released from the Jesuit order in December 1678, although he remained a priest. Nothing is known of his subsequent life or when and where he died.

Names

  • Nicolas, Louis, active 1667-1675 Author.

Created / Published

  • [place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified], [1672 to 1674]

Headings

  • -  France
  • -  Canada--Ontario
  • -  Canada--Quebec
  • -  1672 to 1674
  • -  Algonquin Indians
  • -  Algonquin language
  • -  Description and travel
  • -  France--Colonies
  • -  Grammar
  • -  Great Lakes Region (North America)
  • -  Indian linguistics
  • -  Indians of North America
  • -  Indigenous peoples
  • -  New France

Notes

  • -  Title devised, in English, by Library staff.
  • -  Original resource extent: 135 pages.
  • -  Reference extracted from World Digital Library: Germaine Warkentin, "Aristotle in New France: Louis Nicolas and the Making of the Codex Canadensis," French Colonial History 11 (2010): 71-107.
  • -  Original resource at: National Library of France.
  • -  Content in French.
  • -  Description based on data extracted from World Digital Library, which may be extracted from partner institutions.

Medium

  • 1 online resource.

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2021668139

Online Format

  • compressed data
  • pdf
  • image

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

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Credit Line: [Original Source citation], World Digital Library

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Nicolas, Louis, Active Author. Algonquin Grammar or on the Natives of North America, with the Description of the Country, Journals of Voyages, Memoirs, Remarks on Natural History, Et Cetera, Et Cetera. [Place of Publication Not Identified: Publisher Not Identified, to 1674, 1672] Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021668139/.

APA citation style:

Nicolas, L. (1672) Algonquin Grammar or on the Natives of North America, with the Description of the Country, Journals of Voyages, Memoirs, Remarks on Natural History, Et Cetera, Et Cetera. [Place of Publication Not Identified: Publisher Not Identified, to 1674] [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2021668139/.

MLA citation style:

Nicolas, Louis, Active Author. Algonquin Grammar or on the Natives of North America, with the Description of the Country, Journals of Voyages, Memoirs, Remarks on Natural History, Et Cetera, Et Cetera. [Place of Publication Not Identified: Publisher Not Identified, to 1674, 1672] Pdf. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2021668139/>.