Etchemins

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Etchemins (French. Etchemins ) was a collective term of the French for the two strains of Malecite and Passamaquoddy .

Surname

The French expression étchemin is of unknown origin, probably it comes from the language of the Algonquin or Montagnais . The French collectively referred to the Malecite as Étchemin and the Passamaquoddy, who speak a related dialect, so both peoples were often viewed as one people by early explorers. Both peoples are also often referred to as Maritime Abenaki , since the tribal areas of the Malecite and Passamaquoddy comprised parts of the Canadian Maritime Provinces (also Maritime provinces or simply the Maritimes ).

The term Amalecites was a common French name for the Malecite in Quebec until the 20th century, while the names Milicite and Melicite were common in New Brunswick . Early 20th century ethnographers chose Malecite, but today's Indians prefer Maliseet. The word comes from the Mic-Mac language and means slow speakers or broken speaking people . The Malecite from New Brunswick call themselves Wolastoqiyik or Welastekwíyek , which means Saint John River people or simply Saint John River Indian . Wolastoq or Welàstekw is the Malecite name for the Saint John River and can be translated as beautiful river .