Talk:List of Minnesota placenames of Native American origin

Latest comment: 7 months ago by Pingnova in topic Native words requiring better sources

Native words requiring better sources

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I removed a number of Native words I was unable to source or that had conflicting information in the sources. Editors that can find a source linking the word to the name of the municipality or untangling the conflicting information, I'd greatly appreciate the help.

  • Anoka County/City of Anoka: Anúŋkaṭaŋhaŋ/anokatanhan, no sources used the longer Dakota word/phrase, just the shorter "anoka".
  • Bejou: bizhew versus bonjour, bizhew sounds plausible but I was unable to source the WP:OR explanation on this page or Bejou's page whose refs do not support this conclusion and include refs to Wikipedia itself -> "Some sources state that the town got its name from a corruption of the French word Bonjour, reasoning that the name is related to the Ojibwe word Boozhoo.[1] However, these two words are linguistic false friends, and are not etymologically related.[2] The town's name likely comes from the Ojibwe word bizhiw meaning "lynx",[3] a type of cat indigenous to North America,[4] and one of the doodems of the Ojibwe people.[5]"
  • Koochiching County: sources conflict on the meaning of the word, it seems like some of them mix up the different name the French gave the lake with the Ojibwe word, or rely on older and possibly incorrect English translations, making this difficult for me to source. The county's page includes a plausible but unsourced explanation that includes modern Ojibwe and Cree orthography I wasn't able to find in any sources. -> "The name "Koochiching" comes from either the Ojibwe word Gojijiing or Cree Kocicīhk (recorded in some documents as "Ouchichiq"), both meaning "at the place of inlets," referring to the neighboring Rainy Lake and River. Reverend J.A. Gilfillan recorded their meaning, "according to some, Neighbor lake, according to others a lake somewhere," possibly referring to the neighbouring Rainy Lake and to Lake Couchiching located in southern Ontario. Early European (French) inhabitants gave the names Lac à la Pluie (Rainy Lake) and Rivière à la Pluie (Rainy River) to the nearby bodies of water because of the mist-like rain present at the falls of Rainy River and then to the settlement that became known as International Falls."

Refs

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  1. ^ Upham, Warren (1920). Minnesota Geographic Names: Their Origin and Historic Significance. Minnesota Historical Society. p. 323.
  2. ^ Horton, Robert (2013-11-28). "NetNewsLedger - Where Does the Word Boozhoo Come From?". NetNewsLedger. Retrieved 2019-10-31.
  3. ^ "The Ojibwe People's Dictionary". ojibwe.lib.umn.edu. Retrieved 2019-10-31.
  4. ^ "Canada lynx", Wikipedia, 2019-10-29, retrieved 2019-10-31
  5. ^ "Anishinaabe clan system", Wikipedia, 2019-09-09, retrieved 2019-10-31

Pingnova (talk) 16:57, 13 March 2024 (UTC)Reply