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Trump signed an executive order renaming Lake Ontario as "Lake America" in the United States (apnews.com)
submitted 3 days ago by to c/slop@hexbear.net
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[–] 25 points 3 days ago (1 child)

Ontario is a term thought to have Indigenous origins, either Ontarí:io, a Huron (Wyandot) word meaning "great lake",[16] or possibly skanadario, which means "beautiful water" or "sparkling water" in the Iroquoian languages.[17]

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  • [–] 19 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 child)

    The Ojibwe word for it is “the leading sea” Niigami-gitchigami although my ancestors lived further west, naming Superior “anashinabewi-gitchigami” for themselves. The “Gitchigami” part (spellings vary and I’m bad at remembering the current version) means “sea” or “big lake” or “ocean” or all three, really shrug-outta-hecks

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  • [–] 2 points 2 days ago*

    Anashinabewi-gitchigami (or even "lake anashinabewi") sounds so much cooler than "lake superior". I know it's a tired thing to advocate for but I really feel like all american toponyms need to be renamed back to their native american versions, maybe picking the tribe that was closest to the toponym (or the coolest one) when there are different names.

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