Hello from the Big Lake they call Gitchee Gumee … #nostr #damus #canada #ontario #photography #travel

Why Is the Big Lake Called ‘Gitche Gumee?’

Many people, thanks to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “Hiawatha” poem (1855), have heard of Gitche Gumee, the shining Big-Sea-Water. This spelling was learned, it is said, from Henry Schoolcraft, who worked with the Ojibwe people at the time Longfellow wrote the poem.

Today in Ojibwe language class, thanks to dialectic differences, you are more likely to see gichi-gami, gitchi-gami or kitchi-gami for Lake Superior. Loosely, it does indeed mean “Big Sea” or “Huge Water,” but just about always refers to Lake Superior.