The Name ''Canada'' itself is believed to have originated around 1535 from a Huron - Iroquoian word, ''kanata'', meaning "village" or "settlement" or "collection of huts", referring to Stadacona, a settlement on the site of present-day Quebec City ; another contemporary meaning was "land".
In other Iroquoian languages, the words for "town" or "village" are similar: the Mohawk use ''nekantaa'', the Seneca ''iennekanandaa'', and the Onondaga use ''ganataje''.
Provinces and territories
- name for the Saskatchewan River , ''Kisiskatchewani Sipi'', meaning "swift flowing river".
- word ''maniot-wapow'' meaning "the straight of the spirit or manitobau" or the Assiniboine words ''mini'' and ''tobow'' meaning "Lake of the Prairie", referring to Lake Manitoba .
- .
- word ''onitariio'' meaning "beautiful lake", or ''kanadario'' meaning "sparkling" or "beautiful" water.
- word ''kebek'' which means "narrow passage" or "strait".
- .
Alberta
British Columbia
- term for the Nuxálk people native to the area.
- term for the Owekeeno people native to the area.
- Chemainus : Named after the native shaman and prophet ''Tsa-meeun-is'' ("Broken Chest").
- .
- for "dog" (''kamuks'')
- " in Salish . Derived from the Salish tribal name ''Kawayquitlam''.
- Cowichan :
- Esquimalt : Salish for "the place of gradually shoaling water". Derived from their word ''Es-whoy-malth''.
- word ''Tk'emlups'', meaning "where the rivers meet".
- " in the Okanagan language.
- Keremeos
- people, the Lil'wat of Mt. Currie .
- Masset
- Matsqui :
- Metchosin : English translation of ''Smets-Schosen'', meaning "place of stinking fish".
- Nakusp
- people.
- Okanagan :
- Osoyoos : "Narrowing of the waters".
- .
- Qualicum : "Where the dog salmon run" in Coast Salish.
- Quilchena :
- Saanich :
- language of the Lillooet people
- Skaha Lake : from an interior Salish word for "dog" (''sqexe'')
- Skidegate
- .
- Similkameen :
- First Nation people who live in the area
- Spuzzum , from the local variant of the Chinook Jargon ''spatsum'', a reed used in basketry
- Squamish : The town is named after the First Nations people who live in the area
- Tofino :
- Tulameen :
- Tsilhqot'in or Chilcotin :
- .
Manitoba
- word ''misepawistik'', meaning "rushing rapids".
- .
New Brunswick
Newfoundland and Labrador
# from the Inuktitut ''maggok'', "two"; thus ''Makkovik'' would mean "two places". Around Makkovik are two inlets, Makkovik Bay and Makkovik harbour, and two main brooks floating into the two inlets. "Two Buchten Machovik", meaning "two bays Makkovik", is mentioned in a 1775 writing by the German Moravian Missionary Johann Ludwig Beck . {Link without Title}
- , meaning "our beautiful land" {Link without Title}
- , the Geological Survey or of Newfoundland in 1839 - 1840 , believed that Shannoc Brook, a tributary of the Exploits River , was given the Beothuk name for the Mi'kmaq {Link without Title} .
- , meaning "a narrow place in the river". {Link without Title}
- name for the region, ''turngait'', meaning "spirits"; Inuit legends hold that here the spirit and physical worlds overlap. {Link without Title}
- Wabana — from the Abanaki ''wabunaki'', "east land" from ''wabun'' "dawn"; so named in 1895 by Colonel Thomas Cantley , president of the Nova Scotia Steel Company {Link without Title}
- Wabush — from Innu ''wabush'', "rabbit ground" {Link without Title}
Nova Scotia
Northwest Territories
Nunavut
Ontario
Quebec
Saskatchewan
- word ''misāskwatōmin'', meaning Saskatoon Berry - a fruit native to the area.
Yukon
- word for hammer stones used to fix salmon nets (''Tr'ondëk'').
- Kwan)
- ''Deisleen'', long narrow water
References and notes
#Note|CdnHeritage}} Department of Canadian Heritage: Origin of the Name - Canada
#Note|Rayburn1}} Rayburn, Alan. 2001. ''Naming Canada: stories about Canadian place names'', 2nd ed. (ISBN 0-8020-8293-9) University of Toronto Press: Toronto; pp. 13-4.
#Note|Rayburn2}} ''Ibid.'', p. 14.
See also
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