Mississippi and Michigan are etymologically cognate
the verdict
SUPPORTED
the evidence backs this
refutedsupported
the weight of evidence
2 sources for · 0 against
AS REPORTEDno primary record reached; this is what the reporting says
Reference material supports that the names Mississippi and Michigan share etymological roots in Algonquian language terms relating to large water bodies.
referring to the Mississippi River) and Michigan (cf. Miami-Illinois: meehcakamiwi, Ojibwe: Mishigami, "great sea," referring to Lake Michigan). Canadian provinces
This is a list of English language words borrowed from Indigenous languages of the Americas, either directly or through intermediate European languages such as Spanish or French. It does not cover names of ethnic groups or place names derived from Indigenous languages.
Most words of Native American/First Nations language origin are the common names for indigenous flora and fauna, or describe items
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# Is Mississippi cognate with Michigan?
Tags: cognates
- Score: 12
- Views: 1957
- Answers: 1
- Answered: yes
- Asked by: Mitten File (447 rep)
- Asked: 2020-07-13
- Site: linguistics
## Question
I was reading about the etymology of the word Michigan. It said that it came from an Ojibwe word meaning "big water". And then, I saw that Mississippi was from another Ojibwe word meaning "father of water". I have come to believe these states are related. Is this analysis correct?
## Answers
### Answer by user6726 (score: 14)
Calling on the U. Minn. Ojibwe dictionary, Ojibwe gitchigami = Gitche Gumee referred to in Longfellow's Hiawatha means "Big lake". Gichi means "very big". Mich is the initial which underlies michaa and other words meaning or including the meaning "big". Although the deconstruction of mich+?+gami does not seem to work in the contemporary language, it is plausible that michigami did exist meaning "big lake". (michi means "by hand, barely" so is unrelated).
The root ziibi means "river" and Misi-zaaga'iganiing (source of Mississauga) means "Great River-mouth" in some related language, perhaps, but in the Minn. Ojibwe dictionary is just glossed as a place name; zaag
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