QUEBEC-RESEARCH-L Archives

From: Mona Rainville <>
Subject: Re: [Q-R] St in place names
Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2007 10:45:16 -0400
References: <46AE0279.4020809@infionline.net>
In-Reply-To: <46AE0279.4020809@infionline.net>

Good morning Pat,

In English, there being no gender, a Saint is a Saint, is a Saint, or St.

But in French, the English Saint or St. becomes a Saint or St- is the
Saint was a man, and Sainte or Ste- is the saint was a woman.

For example St. Joseph is Saint-Joseph or St-Joseph in French.

There are exceptions, of course, and Saint-Aimée is one of them. There
is a Saint-Aimé (no final "e") and that is a masculine name. But there
is also a Sainte-Aimée who was a nun, so one should have expected her to
be called Sainte-Aimée always. Yet, she is often referred to as
Saint-Aimée to avoid the diphtongue pronounciation of the two successive
vowels "e" and "A". And this has led to boys being christened Aimée with
the final "e".

In French, there is no period after the abbreviation St, only a hyphen,
although I have seen many instances where it has been used in 19th
century parish records.

Hope this helps,

Mona


Pat Ricci wrote:
> Should the St in French Canadian place names be St, St., St-, Saint or Ste.,
> Ste, Ste-, Sainte (depending on gender of Saint)?
> Is St. Aimee male or female?
>

This thread:

• [Q-R] St in place names by Pat Ricci <>

  • Re: [Q-R] St in place names by Mona Rainville <>