What does Montreal mean in English?

TabbyTom

"Royal mountain" or "royal hill." Dec 29 03, 5:43 PM

woody156

Tabby Tom is right, however the hill in Montreal is called "Mount Royal" thus "Montreal". Dec 30 03, 6:41 AM

defaultname

Mount Royal (the mountain) is 232 metres high is one of eight Monteregian hills and one of the key geographical and topographical landmarks in the region. It is not an extinct volcano – this is but a myth. Historically it was referred to as “Hochelega” because of the nearby Iroquoian fortified village of the same name. It was first discovered by Jacques Cartier in 1535, then after its disappearance, Samuel de Champlain who, in 1642, settled here with his companions founded the village of Village-Marie (City of Mary). The expression “Mont Royal” was first used by Jacques Cartier when he made his second voyage to Hochelega. In his diaries, he was referring to the mountain and not the village. He is simply situating Hochelega in relation to the mountain that he named mont Royal (note the small “m” and capital “R” – in 16th century French the word réal was a variant of the word Royal, hence the name Mont_Réal and finally as Montréal. Nonetheless, from its beginning both the settlement of Ville-Marie (Hochelega previously) and the mountain were referred to as Montréal as well as on some maps of the period. By the way I live only 5KM from Montréal (an island) on the South-Shore. Feb 02 08, 4:12 PM