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| I copied this from (Steven Cormier, Acadians in Gray Website, a great resouce, please vist it) He got most from his source, listed below. Translations (see Father Daigle's Dictionary of the Cajun Language or any French-speaking Cajun; for Indian names, see Kniffen et al., Indian Tribes of LA): Southeastern La.bayous and places: Allemands means Germans; des Allemands, of the Germans amite means friendly or kind anse means cove Anse-aux-Outards means cove of the Canada geese Baton Rouge means red stick or pole bayou means small river and is sometimes spelled baillou bleu means blue boeuf means ox or beef Bonnet Carre means square bonnet or hat br�l� means burnt caillou means gravel or pebble Cannes Brulees means burnt reeds or canes Chacahoula is an Indian name Chacbay is probably another Indian name, also spelled Chackbay Chapitoulas or Tchopitoulas is an Indian name Chauvin is a French Creole family name cheniere is a ridge in the salt marshes with oak trees growing on it; chene means oak c�te means hill or mound, also coast du large means of the open sea or prairie, obviously the latter here Galvez was the Spanish governor of Louisiana during the late 1770s and early 1780s who attacked the British at Manchac and Pensacola during the American Revolution; his name was Bernardo de Galvez or Galves; Galveston, TX, is also named after him Bayou Goula is from an Indian tribe, the Bayougoula, who lived on the site of the town of that name and whose name in Choctaw means bayou people Guillot is an Acadian family name hache means hand ax, so Pointe � la Hache means point that was chopped off Houma comes from the Indian tribe that once lived in the Yazoo region of Mississippi but moved to the bayous of southeastern Louisiana before the Acadians arrived; they still live in the southeastern bayou area; their name in Choctaw means red Iberville was the French soldier and explorer of the late 1690s and early 1700s who founded the French colony of Louisiana isle means island Labadie is a French Creole family name, often spelled Abadie la fourche means the fork or branch Manchac is an Indian name Maurepas was a French nobleman, the Comte de Maurepas, who figured in the settlement of Louisiana Montegut means high mountain; the town is named after Gabriel Montegut, former director of the mint in New Orleans who moved to Terrebonne Parish; the name is pronounced mon-tuh-GYU as though it were spelled "Montague" Orleans is a city in central France, but Gov. Bienville named New Orleans after Philippe, duc d'Orleans, not the city Paincourtville means shortbread town Pierre Part is probably the name of an Acadian settler who lived in what is now northwestern Assumption Parish plaquemine means persimmon Plattenville could mean low-lying place since platin means low area of land Pointe-aux-Ch�nes means point of the oaks Ponchartrain was the French minister who encouraged the settlement of Louisiana salvador is Spanish for holy Terrebonne is a family name that means good earth Terre-aux-Boeufs means land of the oxen or beef cattle Theriot is a prominent Acadian family Thibodeaux, or Thibodaux more properly here, is a prominent Acadian family; Thibodauxville is now Thibodaux and was named after Acadian settler Henry Schuyler Thibodaux Valenzuela is a Spanish family name Verret is a French Creole family name that may mean someone who works with glass Southwestern La. Bayous and Places: Translations (see Father Daigle's Dictionary of the Cajun Language or any French-speaking Cajun; for Indian names, see Kniffen et al., Indian Tribes of LA): Abbeville is a city in France; the name means town of the priest or abbot anse means cove, which in the prairie regions of south Louisiana means an open area shaped by woods or streams into a more or less semicircle Atchafalaya is an Indian word that means great river Atakapas comes from the Indian tribe that at one time occupied coastal Louisiana from the Sabine River to the Atchafalaya Basin; the standard spelling of this tribe's name is Atakapas & means man-eater, but it is often spelled Attakapas & is pronounced uh-TACK-uh-paw; early French accounts claim that the Atakapas ate the bodies of enemies they killed in battle but that French missionaries convinced them to stop the practice in the early 1700s au large means in the open sea or prairie, obviously the latter here Avoyelles comes from an Indian tribe, the Avoyel, who lived in the area now bearing their name; they were kin to the Natchez; their name means people of the rocks or flint people Baton Rouge means red stick or pole bayou means small river and is sometimes spelled baillou Bayou Goula is from a Muskogean Indian tribe, the Bayougoula, who lived on the site of the town of that name and whose name in Choctaw means bayou people Beaubassin, near Carencro, means beautiful basin & was a major Acadian settlement in the Chignecto area near present-day Amherst, Nova Scotia Bellevue means pretty sight boeuf means ox or beef bourbeaux (the proper spelling in French is bourbeux) means muddy br�l� means burnt Butte la Rose means hill of the rose or pink hill Carencro means buzzard or carrion crow and was first used by black slaves chataignier means chestnut tree cheniere is a ridge in the salt marshes with oak trees growing on it; chene means oak chicot means stump or stubble choupic, properly spelled choupique, is a large, bony fish also called a mud fish, a bowfin, a grunnion, or a cypress trout, that fights like hell when caught & still provides pleasure for Cajun fishermen cocodrie means alligator cote means coast, also hill or mound; this term was used in Canada beginning in the 17th century to designate a series of dwellings along a river; the Acadians adopted it & took it with them to Louisiana coteau means hill or mound C�te aux Puces, near New Iberia, means flea hill or flea coast C�te Gel�e, with accent on the "o" and the first "e" in gelee, means frozen hill or frozen coast Courtableau is a family name cypremort means dead cypress tree des cannes means reeds or stalks des �cores means the banks of a stream des glaises means ... I can't find it in Father Daigle's Dictionary, so help me here Faquetaique evidently is a family name Fausse Pointe means false point Fausse Rivi�re means false river, an oxbow lake that once was the main channel of the Mississippi Grand Chevreuil means big deer Grosse Tete means big head Iberia is the peninsula in southwestern European on which Spain and Portugal are found isle means island Mamou is the coral tree, which is a medicinal plant used for colds and bronchial ailments Mermentau was the name of an Atakapas chief of the late 1700s; he was sometimes called Nementou or Nementau Mississippi is an Indian word that means big damn river Nezpique is an Indian word that means tattooed nose; it is the bayou on which I was born, sorta Opelousas comes from an Indian tribe, the Opelousa, who lived on the prairies near the town that bears their name, which means black leg or hot place, depending on the anthropological source you consult peigner means to comb or to card, so peigneur may mean someone who combs or cards wool or cotton Petite Anse means little cove; the bayou at Avery Island is the scene of the delightful 1949 movie, "Louisiana Story" Plaisance is a French Creole family name plaquemine means persimmon, so Plaquemine Brule is burnt persimmon Pointe Coup�e means cut point, that is, where the Mississippi River cut itself a new channel across a point of land prairie to the Acadians also means meadow or grass land Queue de Tortue means tail of the turtle or line of turtles; the bayou of that name probably comes from the Atakapas Chief Celestin la Tortue, who sold land along the bayou to early settlers of what is now Vermilion & Acadia parishes; Bayou Queue de Tortue flows southwestward through the prairie region into the Mermentau River just north of the town of Lake Arthur; it forms the boundary between Lafayette & Acadia parishes & Vermilion & Acadia parishes & should not be confused with Bayou Tortue, which is a much shorter stream that flows into the Vermilion River east of the city of Lafayette rouge means red sal� means salty Sorrel is a family name, but it also means a sour, fleshy-leafed plant used in salads or a reddish-brown horse tasse means coffee cup Teche is an Atakapas word that means snake tortue means turtle vermilion is a bright yellowish red color Ville Platte means flat town; the actual French spelling for flat is plate |
| "Thanks for that info, that is very interesting and informative. I noticed on the map, east, there were 2 places with the name, Brule. St. Martin and Brule Guillot; how would 'burnt' fit in there? Also, on the 1856 Teche Valley map there is shown a place/settlement called Plaquemine Brule, southwest of Church Point. Was the bayou named after town or vise versa? Plaquemine--there is a town of, a bayou, a Parish of....lots of persimmons around in different areas of the state, maybe they were a little unusual and therefore worthy of note as a marker, as opposed to oak trees or cypress trees which were everywhere....could be, and maybe burnt could refer to thier bright sorta fiery color when ripe...food for thought. DB |
| At Esterwood I turned west toward Mermentau eyeing PB as she did the same. As any of you know that have been following these rides lately, I've gotten "a thing" on with farm storage buildings. They are works of art in galvanized steel. They transend their designed function into the surreal. These reminded me of sultan's tents in the desert. Later I would see something different. |
| It was out of a science fiction story. Little strorage buildings were being fed by large straws. They would grow up to be large storage buildings.... You don't want to hear about my dreams. |
| The OST lay right across the tracks. I crossed them to see...... |
| this farmer racing 60 mph across a rice field spreading this stuff. I wondered if it was storage building seed? |
| I got to the river town of Mermentau on the river of the same name. To the north, Plaquemine Brule had combined with the Nezpique and others to form the Mermentau. I wanted to ride north and find that powerful confluence. |
| Exiting town, the vision below haulted my progress for an appraisal. I swear I thought it was a rocket ship complete with moon lander. |
| There was a siren blasting and then the whole thing lifted off. Fire flashed everywhere and below is all that was left |
| The bayou is in that opening straight ahead. The place smelled of old bagasse. Bagasse is the material which is left after sugarcane has been processed. What was it doing here? Had the Gemans and Cajuns developed a bagasse burning rocketship? |
| The trail continued. I could have gotten to the bayou at the bagasse field but I would have had to cross a hundred yards of soft bagass. There could have been quick-bagass out there which could have swallowed my bike and me. I decided to press on. |
| The road dead ended at a home. The swamp to my left, north, had to be related to the bayou. |
| This was as close to the mouth of Plaquemine Brule as I could come, I thought. Then a little turtle came strolling out from the grass and spoke. He introduced himself as Monsieur Tortoise. Then he motioned me down this side road. |
| The confluence lay before me as the sun set. Actually, since Baronet will catch me on this, the turtle did not speak but only motioned. Fred, Dave's right, turtles don't talk much. Actually, that's a picture of Lake Martin, taken on the last stretch home. Dave has suggested that we go to the confluence by boat. What a novel idea. Below is a lot of stuff you need to read in order to be fluent in Louisiana travel. That's it until we go north, next. |
| I had also asked David if he knew what "Plaquemine Brule" meant, him being from that area. He said,"no". I then sent him my guess, which was "burnt persimmons", to which he responded, "unlikely". Then I found the information below which varified my interpretation. Then he wrote back the note below. He only works 3 days out of the week. He fishes the rest. |
| The site I sent Dave is THIS SITE ON THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF FRENCH NAMED PLACES AND WATERWAYS plus Maps. IT IS NOT BRITANICA BUT A LOCAL SITE SO ACCEPT IT WITH A LITTLE SLACK, JUST AS YOU WOULD MINE. Click Maps for the information below. |
| Now you Neaux. Time to Geaux home. |
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| Then Gloria wrote. She lives just west of Sunset, the border of the Prairie on the east. She and her cousin are looking for the grave of their relative who settled on Bayou Plaquemine Broule eleven genrerations ago. His holdings are marked on the 1780' s map below. It is between Richard and Lewisburg. Thank you Glo for sharing that. That's the stuff that makes this so interesting. The 1780's map is below. His name was Louis Leger. |
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| Louis Leger Land |
| As I mentioned, David read over my junk and insisted that if someone didn't bring this rag back to Earth we would get offers from Disney for their next brain killing child's DVD. I immediately gave him the typewriter and told him to type. No Disney junk here. This is all the truth. Here's Dave: "At Esterwood, heading to Mermentau, the grain bin/dryers far off the road are on the BH Farm, I knew him (now long deceased) and know his son..................On down the road past Midland the big farm headdquarters /bins/ equip- ment yard is that of the " W... Brothers " with whom I was also aquainted, big big acreage farmers. The spreading "buggy'' is a relatively new development, it has narrow, but tall tires so as not to do much damage to the rice crop and can be fitted with a fertilizer spreader body as in your photo, or a sprayer unit and is replacing a lot of "cropduster use". The bagasse and the space vehicle you saw blast off may be related to ethanol production efforts in the area which have come, gone, and come again at the river there somewhere. But the tank/silo looking affairs could be a grain elevator or bulk chemical terminal, not likely a space vessel cuz Cajuns don't like rocket noise disturbing the pleasant natural sounds of thier swamps, rivers, and bayous, but jook joints with loud music are OK." Thanks Dave. Hey, could ja get Louise to bring me a cup of coffee, and tell Ron to fill in his milage report. See if you can find Ray Daigle. He took the air boat and said he had a story. That was last week. |
| Added Information concerning the above pictures. |
| Louis Leger Land |
| Ok, this write has gotten out of my hands. David and Gloria have kidnapped the article. Too much factual and historically interesting information. I just wanted to follow a damn ditch. I'm going home. |