Acadia
/əˈkeɪdiə/noun
A historical region of northeastern North America, especially parts of present-day eastern Canada and Maine.
Did you know?The name Acadia was popularized by French explorers and may have been influenced by the Greek name Arcadia, a literary symbol of an idealized pastoral land, rather than a direct Indigenous word.
Etymological Timeline
Ancient Greece
Greek
Ἀρκαδία (Arkadía)
“Arcadia, a mountainous region of Greece later idealized as a pastoral paradise”
16th Century
French
Arcadie / Acadie
“A literary and geographic name used by French explorers and mapmakers”
17th Century
French
Acadie
“The French colonial name for parts of the Atlantic coast of North America”
17th–18th Century
English
Acadia
“The Anglicized form of the French colonial place-name”
Modern English
English
Acadia
“A historical region name used for eastern Canadian and northeastern U.S. contexts”