Language

One of many unique Creole cultural elements is language. Monett, in his history of the Illinois of 1846, wrote that “The idiom of these villagers, especially in those of the Illinois and Upper Louisiana, was in many points different from that of the European French, both in pronunciation and in the signification of words. In general terms, the Illinois idiom seemed destitute of that nervous and animated brilliancy of expression peculiar to the Parisian French.” The changes in language were the result of the many new influences on the habitants. They had to give names to unfamiliar birds, animals, and plants, to ideas and objects associated with Africans and Indians, to new forms of commerce and trade, and to new locales. In many cases they adopted or adapted words from African or Indian languages to fill these descriptive gaps. John Francis McDermott’s 1941 book A Glossary of Mississippi Valley French is a fascinating compilation of words particular to the Creole experience and culture.

bois de vache = wood of the cow or literally wooden cow (this was the name for buffalo chips)

bois-pourri = rotten or decayed wood (the name for the whippoorwill)

boucaut (bull boat),

braguet (the word for the codpiece of fifteenth century male costume, applied to the American Indian breechclout),

brochetau = brochet is the French word for pike (locals applied it to the Mississippi River gar, or alligator gar),

chat sauvage = wildcat (raccoon),

croquignole (for the distinctive doughnut-like local pastry),

bete puante = stinking beast (skunk)

bete rouge = red beast (chigger)

Some of their words are still in common usage, including bayou (from an Indian word, used to describe a body of water within the cutoff channel of a river), butte (for a hill), cache (for a place to store or hide goods), and Creole (adapted from the Spanish language).