DCHP-1 Online
shnye schnye, she-ny, shnay 
n. an older and now local form of snye.
See also: snye
- 1873 (1904) One night's delay, and again we were on the endless trail; on along the great silent river . . . amidst the great diamond-shaped islands where the snow lay deep and soft in "shnay" and "batture."
- 1896 (1898) We continued through the winding chenals (anglicized as schnys), among low islands, where we ran uncomfortably close to sunken rocks.
- 1909 A narrow channel is called a "she-ny," evidently a corruption of the French chenal.
- 1961 . . . around Bryson and Campbell's Bay [Ottawa Valley] . . . one still hears the expression "The Shnye"--seemingly holding onto the "ch" of "chenal."
- 1873 (1904) One night's delay, and again we were on the endless trail; on along the great silent river . . . amidst the great diamond-shaped islands where the snow lay deep and soft in "shnay" and "batture."