moose/orignal

[janilta]

Mike, hello,

Yes, you're right. The French and Anglo-colonists/explorers were
certainly not much aware of the Scandinavian elk when they wandered
through North-America and this is perhaps the reason why they call it
new names as 'moose' and 'orignal'.
The latter is the name of the North-American elk in French (ie mainly in
its North-American version) and apparently comes from the Basque 'orein'
(stag).
Can this be a remnant of the Basque Pidgin (Souriquois/zurikoa) spoken
on the North-Atlantic shores (down to Maine) from around 1550 to 1650
between Native tribes and Basque fishermen ???

Regards, Yann.