André-Jean Cuoq

Philologist, b. at LePuy, France, 1821; d. at Oka near Montreal, 1898. Jean Cuoq entered the Company of Saint-Sulpice in 1844, and two years later was sent to Canada. In 1847 he was put in charge of the mission at the Lac des Deux-Montagnes. So ambitious was he to fulfil well the duties of his ministry that in a short time he acquired a perfect knowledge of the Iroquois and the Algonquin dialects. His numerous works, all published at Montreal, gained him admission to many scientific societies of Europe and America. We have from his pen: “Le Livre des sept nations” (1861); “Jugement erroné de M. Ernest Renan sur les langues sauvages” (1864); “Etudes philosophiques sur quelques langues sauvages” (1866); “Quels étaient les sauvages que rencontra Jacques Cartier sur les rives du S.-Laurent?” in “Annales de philosophie chrétienne” (1869); “Lexique de la langue iroquoise” (1882); “Lexique de la langue algonquine” (1886); “Grammaire de la langue algonquine, insérée dans les mémoires [IX-X] de la société royale du Canada” (1891-92); “Anoct Kekon” (ibid., 1893); “Nouveau manuel algonquin” (1893). He wrote also many other works destined to further the christianization of the Indians.