Word of the Week…en français
ruisseau /ʁɥiso/ masculine noun
Bellin map, 1764. le Ruisseau de la Vieille Reine can be seen at the top left of the inset Plan du Fort du Détroit.
Stream or brook. From Old French, known throughout the language. Found in the Detroit River region in the name of a “now-vanished” stream, le Ruisseau de la Vieille Reine – named for “an important Huron woman” known through oral tradition as Catherine Jean dit Vien. For pronunciation see Wiktionary; also see the writings of Joseph Gaspard Chaussegros de Lery at Central Michigan University, the entry for Louis Gervaise at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, and R. Alan Douglas’ Uppermost Canada .
