1705, from
Acadia, Latinized form of
Acadie, Fr. name of Nova Scotia, probably from
Archadia, the name given to the region by Verrazano in 1524, from Gk.
Arkadia, emblematic in pastoral poetry of a place of rural peace; the name may have been suggested to Europeans by the Micmac Indian word
akadie "fertile land." The Acadians, expelled by the English in 1755, settled in large numbers in Louisiana (see
Cajun, which is a corruption of
Acadian).
[uh-key-dee-uh
n] 