Name of Canada separate people from the Mohawk, most sources specifically linked the name's origin to the Mohawk word instead of the Laurentian one. A widespread perception in Canadian folklore is that Cartier misunderstood the term "Canada" as the existing proper name of the Iroquois people's entire territory rather than the generic class noun for a town or village — for instance, the Historica Foundation of Canada's Heritage Minute film devoted to Cartier's landing at Hochelaga is scripted as having Cartier believe that "Kanata" or "Canada" was the established name of the entire country. This is not supported by Cartier's own writings, however
Iroquois so much so that a Basque-based pidgin developed for communication with the Algonquian tribes of the region. Bakker claims that it is unlikely that "-quois" derives from a root specifically used to refer to the Iroquois, citing as evidence that several other Indian tribes of the region were known to the French by names terminating in the same element, e.g. "Armouchiquois", "Charioquois", "Excomminquois", and "Souriquois". He proposes instead that the word derives from "hilokoa" (via the intermediate form "irokoa"), from the Basque roots "hil" "to kill", "ko" (the locative genitive suffix), and "a" (the definite article suffix). In favor of