Indian Languages Database
Record Details
[Iroquois translation manual for the missionaries at Lac des Deux Montagnes, Québec]
[Seigneurie du Lac-des-Deux-Montagnes, Québec]: , [after 1754]
Physical Description: 36 leaves ; 19 cm. (4to)
Call number: Codex / Ind / 21
Accession number: 16445
Notes: Ms. codex.
Title supplied by cataloguer.
Vincent-Fleuri Guichart, also known as Guichart de Kersident, Vincent-Fleuri, was a Sulpician priest and missionary. He was born in 1729 at Bannalec, France and died in 1793 in Montreal. He joined the Séminaire de Saint-Sulpice on 22 March 1754 and was ordained priest eight days later. He left for Canada on May 13th, reaching Montreal on 5 September. On his arrival at Lac-des-Deux-Montagnes on 9 Nov. 1754, he was given the responsibility of ministering to the Algonquians, whose language he quickly learned. Manuscripts that he wrote in this language, including a dictionary, sermons, prayers, songs, and examinations of conscience, are still extant. He also began to learn Iroquois, and sermons written in it have been found dating from 1761.Guichart was to serve in the mission of Lac-des-Deux-Montagnes (Oka) for the rest of his life, except when he was curate of Notre-Dame in Montreal from 1767 to 1777. Cf. Dictionary of Canadian biography online.
Manuscript is written in approximately 6 different hands, and the other authors, while they are known to be of the Sulpician order, are anonymous.
First vocabulary word on leaf 1 recto is an unintelligible Iroquois word.
Lexicon of Iroquois pronouns and related phrases translated into French: leaves 1 recto-2 recto.
Vespers and other offices of the Catholic Church in parallel texts with French to the right and Iroquois to the left: leaves 2 verso-10 recto.
"Limne pour tous l'année" and another section of French and Iroquois verses: leaves 10 verso-21 recto.
"Priere pendant la messe": leaves 22 recto-29 recto.
"Exhortation pend[an]t la ceremonie du mariage", dated December 5, 1769: leaves 30 recto-31 verso.
A selection of Iroquois phrases with some translations into French: leaves 32 recto-33 recto.
"Vespres", leaves 33 verso-34 verso, are written upside down with the "Vespres" beginning on leaf 34 verso.
Building dimensions and figures: leaves 35 verso-36 verso.
Profession of faith, written by an anonymous Sulpician: leaf 36 verso.
John Carter Brown Library copy imperfect: some water staining on various leaves; leaf 36 is torn and wanting on lower foredge, affecting Profession of faith, written by an anonymous Sulpician on verso.
John Carter Brown Library copy bound in 18th or 19th century full suede deerskin.
Provenance of the John Carter Brown Library copy: Victor Morin, Montréal: bookplate on front pastedown.
To access digital facsimile copy of book, click here.
Languages: Iroquois
Genre: Specimen / Dictionary / Catechisms and Creeds
Region: North America
