Etymology
A popular belief suggests that the name derives from the French term "petit coude", meaning "little elbow". In fact, the name derives from the Mi'kmaq term Epetkutogoyek, meaning "the river that bends like a bow", a reference to the right angle bend near Moncton. Acadians transformed this to Petcoudiac or Petitcoudiac, which was modified to Petitcodiac by British settlers. The river's heavy sedimentation led to the nickname "Chocolate River", due to the resulting brown tint. When the Petitcodiac River Causeway was built, an additional 10 million cubic metres (13 million cubic yards) of this sediment began to accumulate in the 4.7 km (2.9 mi) of river downstream from it.
Read more about this topic: Petitcodiac River
Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)