Why did the Chippewa Indians give Lake Superior the name Gitche Gumee?

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Why did the Chippewa Indians give Lake Superior the name Gitche Gumee?

Question #83985. Asked by bernajean.

Related Trivia Topics: Geography

ak2

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ak2

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Answer has 18 votes.

Currently voted the best answer.

In the Ojibwe language, the lake is called "Gichigami" ("big water"), but it is better known as "Gitche Gumee" as recorded by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in The Song of Hiawatha.

Quoted from:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Superior#Name

Sep 02 2007, 9:10 PM

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Answer 1

Gichigami or Gitche Gumee (from Longfellow's 'The Song of Hiawatha) means 'big water'. The lake was named le lac supérieur, or "Upper Lake," in the 17th century by French explorers because it was located above Lake Huron.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gitche_Gumee

Answer 2

The name Michigan looks strangely similar to Gichigami...

"Michigan (roughly MISH-uh-gun) is a Midwestern state of the United States of America, located in the east north central portion of the country. It was named after Lake Michigan, whose name was a French adaptation of the Ojibwe term mishigami, meaning "large water" or "large lake"."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan

Why did the Chippewa Indians give Lake Superior the name Gitche Gumee?

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