Acadiens

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Referring to the descendants of French colonists who settled in the maritime provinces of Canada and parts of the northeastern United States ; relating to the culture, language, or heritage of these people ; connected to the historical region known as Acadia
2. Denoting people originating from early French settlements in eastern Canada and their traditions ; pertaining to the unique dialects, customs, and identity developed from Acadian ancestry ; associated with the geographical area historically called Acadia
3. Characterizing the ethnic group deriving from colonial French inhabitants in parts of Canada and the U.S. northeast ; involving the distinct cultural practices, linguistic traits, and social history of these communities ; linked to the territorial name of their original settlement area, Acadia

Etymology: The Acadians take their name from "Acadie," the French colony established in the early 1600s on the peninsula and coastal region now split between Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and parts of Maine. The name is generally traced to "Arcadia," the idyllic region of ancient Greece, and it was likely applied by French explorers in the early 1500s, when Giovanni da Verrazzano's expedition sailed along the coast in 1524. The likeliest explanation is that the Italian-born explorers and cartographers of the period borrowed the classical Arcadia, a land of pastoral peace, for a place they admired, and the French then adopted the form "Acadie." Those settlers were expelled from their land in the 1755 Great Upheaval, when British forces deported many of them, and the people who returned or resettled took the name "Acadian" as their identity. Over time the spelling and pronunciation of the word shifted, and "Cajun" is a later English-speaking corruption of "Acadian" that developed in Louisiana, where many deportees eventually settled.

Synonyms: Acadians, Cajuns