À bientôt. (French)—See you soon.
À gauche! À gauche! (French)—To the left! The left!
Abú (Irish)—Forever! Hurrah!
Allons! Allez! (French)—Let’s go! Go ahead!
Allons-nous! (French)—Let’s go!
Alors (French)—then, in that case
Alors, regarde, chérie (French)—Then look, my darlin’
Âme soeur (Canadian French)—Like the Irish term anamchara, this means soul-friend. It tends to be translated as “soul-mate” but it transcends romantic connotations though it may include these. As a Québécois friend explains, it refers to “une grande amitié, une forte relation amicale et très respecteuse.”
Anamchara (Irish)—soul-friend
Angakuk (Inuktitut)—shaman, medicine man/woman
Aqsarniit (Inuktitut)—soccer trails, the name used by Baffin Islanders for the Northern Lights. Another Inuktitut name for the Lights is Aqsalijaat, meaning “the trail of those playing soccer.”
Attention! (French)—Watch out!
Aventure (French)—adventure
Aya (Hindi)—anglicized to “ayah.” A nursemaid or governess.
Ban martre (Old Irish)—white martyrdom
Beaucoup de magie (French)—lots of magic
Bí ar d’fhaichill ar an strainséir! (Irish)—Beware the stranger!
Biens le temps (French)—plenty of time
Bienvenue, Loup. (French)—Welcome, Wolf.
Bon (French)—good
Bravo! (French)—Good work! Well done!
Buíochas le Dia. (Irish)—Thank God.
C’est bon. (French)—This is good.
C’est ça. (French)—That’s it.
C’est certain! (French)—For certain! It’s definite!
C’est incroyable! (French)—It’s incredible!
C’est vrai? (French)—it’s true?
C’était merveilleux! (French)—It was wonderful!
C’était très beau (French)—It was very beautiful.
Cá bhfuill Naomh Bhreandán? (Irish)—Where is Saint Brendan?
Ça va? (French)—How’s it going? (How are you?)
Cailleach Beinne Bric (Scots Gaelic)—The Hag of the Speckled Company
Canot d’écorce qui va voler! (Canadian French)—The bark canoe/boat that is going to fly!
Canot d’écorce qui vole, qui vole! (Canadian French)—The bark canoe/boat that flies, that flies!
Cara Mia (Latin)—My dear/beloved lady
Caribou (Canadian French of Algonkian origin)—large deer in Arctic regions of North America. Both male and female have antlers. The same deer in Asia and Europe is called reindeer.
Cat sith (Scots Gaelic)—fairy cat
Catholique (French)—Catholic, as in Roman Catholic
Ce n’est rien (French)—It’s nothing. Used as “you’re welcome” in reply to “thank you.”
Ceann groppi (Scots Gaelic)—stuffed cod head. A Cape Breton delicacy. The cod head is stuffed with cod livers mashed with cornmeal, flour, and rolled oats, then boiled or steamed. Yum.
Chauvin (French)—chauvinistic
Chercher une aiguille dans un botte de foin (French)—to look for a needle in a haystack
Chez toi (French)—(at) your house
Coimdiu na nduile (Old Irish)—Lord of Creation
Comment dit-on? (French)—How do you say?
Complainte (French)—lament, sad song
Comprends-tu? (French)—Do you understand?
Conte merveilleux (French)—wonder tale, fairy tale
Craic agus ceol (Irish)—crack and music—Crack means great fun, as in “having the crack.”
Craoibhín Ruadh (Irish)—Little Red-haired Branch
D’accord (French)—agreed, okay
Dangereux (French)—dangerous
Dans l’bois! (Canadian French of dans les bois)—Head for the trees!
Dehcho (Dene)—The Big River (the original name for the MacKenzie River in the Northwest Territories)
Derc martre (Old Irish)—red martyrdom
Dia Duilech (Old Irish)—God of the Elements
Diablotin (Canadian French)—demon
Dis-moi (Canadian French)—tell me (informal of dites-moi)
Esprit du mal (Canadian French)—evil spirit
Et toi? (French)—And you?
Excus’-moi (French)—excuse me, sorry (informal of excusez-moi)
Fado, fado (Irish)—long ago. Usually found at the beginning of a fairy tale, as in “once upon a time.”
Fais attention (French)—be careful
Fais-nous voyager par-dessus les montagnes! (Canadian French)—Let’s journey over the mountains!
Famille (French)—family
Garçon (French)—boy
Gentille (French)—nice
Glas martre (Old Irish)—green martyrdom
Go raibh míle maith agaibh. (Irish)—Thanks ever so much (literally “a good thousand to you”).
Grand-père est disparu. (French)—Grandfather has disappeared.
Guru (Hindi)—A Hindu or Sikh spiritual leader or teacher. While the term has taken on derogatory connotations in Western society, it is one of great respect in India. From the Sanskrit guruh, meaning “weighty.”
Hootchinoo (Tlingit)—distilled liquor, shortened to “hooch” and now North American slang for liquor, particularly illegally distilled
Innunguaq (Inuktitut)—This is the proper term for the human-shaped stone figures (innunguait, plural) most of us call inuksuk (inuksuit, plural). Innunguaq means “in the likeness of a human.” The inuksuk comes in many shapes. It means “acting in the capacity of a human,” e.g., as a navigational aid, marker to hunting grounds, indicator of food caches, doorway to the spiritual world.
Inummariit (Inuktitut)—“the real people,” those who live on the land in the manner of their ancestors
Irlandais (French)—Irish
Irlandaise! Magnifique! C’est un très beau pays, l’Irlande. (French)—You’re Irish! Great! Ireland is a beautiful country.
Is scith mo chrob on scribainn. (Old Irish)—My hand is weary with writing. (Found in the margin of an old manuscript, medieval monkish graffiti.)
J’ai peur. (French)—I’m afraid.
Je comprends. (French)—I understand.
Je m’excuse. (French)—I’m sorry.
Je n’sais pas. (French)—I don’t know (short for je ne sais pas).
Je pense (French)—I think
Je suis ancien, pas invalide. (French)—I’m an old man, not an invalid.
Je t’aime. (French)—I love you.
Jongleur (Canadian French)—Native medicine man/shaman (sorcier indien). Also used in the book is jongleuse—Native medicine woman/shaman (sorcière indienne).
Klahanie (Chinook jargon, a Native-based trade language used west of the Rockies and as far north as the Yukon)—the great outdoors
L’histoire (French)—history, story
La chasse-galerie (Canadian French)—Often directly translated into English as “witch canoe” or “spirit boat,” but this is incorrect. La chasse-galerie is the process of flying a canoe. One “runs la chasse-galerie” (courir la chasse-galerie), but there is no direct translation for the term itself. The boat is canot or canot d’écorce.
La Pèlerine (French)—the female pilgrim
Le Brûlé (Canadian French)—“The burnt place.” Anglicized to the Brule. A patch of wasteland or swamp created by a forest fire.
Le Diable (French)—the Devil
Le Diable, beau danseur (French)—the Devil, a great dancer and handsome too
Le Nord (French)—the North
Les fantômes (French)—ghosts
Les lutins (Canadian French)—goblins
Liber Monstrorum (Latin)—Book of Marvellous Creatures. Probably written in England (they don’t know for sure) early seventh century, but maybe earlier.
Loup! Enfin! Ça va? (French)—Wolf! At last! How are you?
Ma grand-mère (French)—my grandmother
Magh Crí Mór (Irish)—the Plain of the Great Heart
Maintenant (French)—now
Mais non (French)—of course not
Mais oui (French)—(but) of course
Mais peut-être (French)—but perhaps
Mal de raquette (Canadian French)—leg strain caused by heavy snowshoeing
Man-i-tou (Algonkian)—spirit of the land, sacred force
Mea culpa. (Latin)—(It’s) my fault.
Merci beaucoup (French)—thank you very much
Mo chara (Irish)—my dear one, my friend
Mo stór (Irish)—my treasure
Moi aussi. (French)—Me too.
Mon ami (French)—my friend
Mon amour (French)—my love, beloved
Mon frère (French)—my brother
Mon grand-père (French)—my grandfather
Mystère (French)—mystery
N’est-ce pas? (French)—Isn’t it? Another way of saying “eh?”
Na péistí. Ansin! (Irish)—Sea monsters! Over there!
Naturellement. (French)—Of course/naturally.
Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis (Latin)—The Voyage of Saint Brendan the Abbot. Written in Latin around A.D. 800, it tells the story of the sixth-century Irish monk who set sail for the Island of Paradise on the other side of the ocean. It was a “best seller” in medieval Europe.
Nous risquons de vendre nos âmes au diable! (Canadian French)—We risk selling our souls to the devil!
Nous sommes ici! (French)—Here we are!
Nunatak—Anglicized version of nunataq (Inuktitut)— an isolated peak of rock projecting above a surface of inland ice or snow.
Nunavut (Inuktitut)—“our land.” Canada’s new territory, which officially came into being April 1, 1999.
Ogham (Middle Irish)—ancient lettering of the Celtic peoples based on straight lines drawn perpendicular or at an angle to another (long) straight line. Usually found on stones or carved on wood. Related to the God Ogma, inventor of the alphabet.
Oíche Shamhna (Irish)—Halloween
Omadhaun (Irish)—anglicized version of amadán, meaning “fool.”
Oui (French)—yes
Oui, c’est ça! Exactement! (French)—Yes, that’s it exactly!
Oui, je connais. (French)—Yes, I know/recognize it.
Oui. Bien. Très bien. (French)—Yes. Fine. Very well.
Ouvre la porte! Vite! (French)—Open the door! Quick!
Pas de problème (French)—no problem
Perigrinni (Medieval Latin)—pilgrims
Physiologus (Latin)—Natural Science. Originally a Greek work of late antiquity about the natural world. Popular in the Middle Ages in Latin. Icelandic version written later.
Poudrerie (Canadian French)—drifting or powdery snow
Prends garde. (French)—Take care/be on your guard.
Qu’est-ce que c’est? (French)—What is it?
Qu’est-ce que c’est que ça? (French)—What’s that?
Qu’est-ce que tu fais? (French)—What are you doing?
Qu’est-ce qui se passe? (French)—What’s happening?
Regarde, chérie, regarde mon pays. (French)—Look, sweetheart, see my country.
Roth Mór an tSaoil (Irish)—The Great Wheel of Life (Note: this is the Irish title of Micheal MacGowan’s book about his adventures in the Yukon’s gold rush called in English The Hard Road to Klondike.)
’S FOSGAIL AN DORUS ’S LEIG A’STIGH SINN! (Scots Gaelic)—Open the door and let us in!
S’il te plaît (French)—please (informal of s’il vous plaît)
Sadhu (Sanskrit)—literally meaning “good.” The name given to a Hindu holy man or woman who wanders throughout India. They have renounced material life and live in a state of perpetual pilgrimage.
Saltair na Rann (Medieval Irish)—Psalter of Verse, a tenth-century manuscript containing songs and poems about “life, the universe and everything.”
Salut (Canadian French)—Hi
Saskehavas (Coast Salish)—Sasquatch in Canada, Bigfoot in the US, and in Tibet, the Yeti, or Abominable Snowman
Sensible (French)—sensitive
Son nom? (French)—His name?
Tabernac (Canadian French)—swear word referring to “tabernacle.” Many French-Canadian curses refer to the Roman Catholic Church. Also used in the book are câlisse for calice (chalice) and maudit (damned).
Tabula rasa (Latin)—blank/clean slate
Toujours (French)—always
Tria digita scribunt, totus corpora laborat. (Medieval Latin)—Three fingers write, but the whole body labors. (More graffiti written by another monk long ago.)
Umiak (Inuktitut)—skin boat
Un peu (French)—a little
Une chanson irlandaise (French)—an Irish song
Vite! Rapidement! (French)—Quick! Hurry!
Vitement (French)—quickly
Voyageur canadien (Canadian French)—woodsman, guide, trapper, boatman, explorer. Literally “Canadian traveler.”