Notes & Queries Archive
REPLY1850

aconac, Caconacquerie

By C.

This is a misprint of yours, or a misspelling of your correspondents. The word is *cacouac, cacouacquerie*. It was a cant word used by Voltaire and his correspondents to signify an *unbeliever* in Christianity, and was, I think, borrowed from the name of some Indian tribe supposed to be in a natural state of freedom and exemption from prejudice.

Topics: Unbelief in Christianity, Language and Etymology