Name Origins
- Lake Erie
- from Erie tribe, a shortened form of the Iroquoian word erielhonan (long tail)
- Lake Huron
- named by French explorers for inhabitants in the area, Wyandot or "Hurons"
- Lake Michigan
- likely from the Ojibwa word mishigami (great water)
- Lake Ontario
- Wyandot (Huron) word ontarío (lake of shining waters)
- Lake Superior
- English translation of French term lac supérieur (upper lake), referring to its position north of Lake Huron. The Ojibwe people called it gitchigumi
Read more about this topic: Great Lakes
Famous quotes containing the word origins:
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—Katharine Hamnett (b. 1948)
“Lucretius
Sings his great theory of natural origins and of wise conduct; Plato
smiling carves dreams, bright cells
Of incorruptible wax to hive the Greek honey.”
—Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962)