Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.
Acadian, Cajun (adjs., nn.)
Acadians were the French colonists who during the seventeenth century settled what later became the Canadian Maritime (now Atlantic) Provinces and part of Quebec. The colony probably was named after the mythical Arcadia. Acadia is sometimes used as another name for French Canada, as Acadians is for French-Canadians. Cajun (sometimes Cajan) is the Louisiana pronunciation of Acadian applied to Acadians resettled there (see Longfellow’s Evangeline), to their descendants in the Cajun parishes of Louisiana, to their language, and most recently to their style of cooking (lately in vogue across the continent) and to their music. See ZYDECO.
