New edition of Peskotomuhkati-Wolastoqey dictionary adds 1,000 entries

The new edition of an Indigenous language dictionary is a rich source of cultural history that has grown significantly since the publication of its first edition 18 years ago.

Goose Lane Editions released Peskotomuhkati-Wolastoqey Latuwewakon on March 10, the second edition of the popular Peskomuhkati and Wolastoqey dictionary published in 2008.

The new edition contains more than 1,000 new entries, for a total of 19,000 entries.

The new version of the massive dictionary also comes in two volumes. The first has English-language entries followed by the a list of relevant Peskotomuhkati-Wolastoqey words and their translations. This serves as a key for finding Peskotomuhkati-Wolastoqey words in the second volume.

“You can open both volumes at once, side by side and look in the English side and then go to the Peskotomuhkati Wolastoqey side to see what that word is,” said co-editor Robert Leavitt.

Interview with Robert Leavitt featured in the March 2026 edition of the NB Update: 

Leavitt is professor emeritus at the University of New Brunswick and former director of the Mi’kmaq-Wolastoqey Centre. Leavitt’s interest in the Peskotomuhkati language began in the 1970s while working in a bilingual education program in Indian Township, Maine.

He continued his research at UNB, collaborating with David Francis and Margaret Apt, both from Sipayik, Maine, on the first dictionary.

In an interview with the NB Media Co-op, Leavitt recalled his experiences working with the co-editors.

Francis, the principal author of the dictionary, who passed away in 2016, “got fascinated by the language by reading and writing it,” said Leavitt.

“One night I brought in a very old transcription of a Peskotomuhkati legend, and we were reading it, and the idea was to rewrite it using the modern spelling and, all of a sudden, he looked up and said, ‘My grandmother told me this story.’”

Francis’s grandmother was alive in the late 1800s and memorized all the legends orally, so he was “fascinated with the fact that someone had written this down.”

Co-author Margaret Apt would “go out into the community with the tape recorder and interview people about their experiences or about their specific knowledge they have about fish species or basket making, or just cooking or whatever the person was interested in,” said Leavitt. The interviews were then transcribed and added to the book as example sentences.

“One thing that struck me when I was proofreading the dictionary is how much cultural information there is, just in the example sentences,” said Leavitt. “A lot of them reflect people’s way of thinking, people’s activities, people’s families and social relationships and particularly people’s relationships with the environment. So that, to me, is another valuable aspect of the dictionary.”

There is also an online dictionary, which Leavitt referred to as the “master dictionary,” with new entries added regularly. The second edition includes additions to the online dictionary made over the years. “It’s one of those never-ending projects,” said Leavitt.

The Peskotomuhkati-Wolastoqey Dictionary | Peskotomuhkati-Wolastoqey Language Portal

Another resource on the website is a collection of videos featuring language speakers.

A video called “That Rotten Reparata” shows a group of Elders gathered around the table playing cards. In their language, they talk about the abuse they faced at the hands of the nuns. One Elder says, “kosona keqsey, on-oc, iyey, ‘posokewokonal wenil,” which translates to “If you talked too much, or anything, then she’d pinch you.”

That Rotten Reparata | Peskotomuhkati-Wolastoqey Language Portal

The dictionary has been a valuable resource since its first edition. “People are using it constantly when they’re translating, when they’re creating language materials, when they’re creating lessons for children,” Leavitt said.

Anna-Leah Simon is a St. Thomas University student and an intern with the NB Media Co-op from Elsipogtog.