List of Canadian provincial and territorial name etymologies

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Template:Short description This article lists the etymologies of the names of the provinces and territories of Canada.[1]

Provinces and territories

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Name Language of origin Word(s) in original language Meaning and notes
File:Flag of Alberta.svg Alberta
File:Alberta in Canada 2.svg		 Latin (ultimately from Proto-Germanic) Feminine Latinized form of Albert, ultimately from the Proto-Germanic *Aþalaberhtaz (compound of "noble" + "bright/famous"), after Princess Louisa Caroline Alberta[2][3]
File:Flag of British Columbia.svg British Columbia
File:British Columbia in Canada 2.svg		 Latin Referring to the British sector of the Columbia District, after the Columbia River, ultimately after the Columbia Rediviva, a reference to Christopher Columbus[4][5]
File:Flag of Manitoba.svg Manitoba
File:Manitoba in Canada 2.svg		 Cree, Ojibwe. or Assiniboine manitou-wapow, manidoobaa, or minnetoba "Straits of Manitou, the Great Spirit" or "Lake of the Prairie", after Lake Manitoba[6][7]
File:Flag of New Brunswick.svg New Brunswick
File:New Brunswick in Canada 2.svg		 German (ultimately from Low German) Script error: No such module "Lang". Combination of Bruno and wik, referring to a place where merchants rested and stored their goods[8]
File:Flag of Newfoundland and Labrador.svg Newfoundland and Labrador
File:Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada 2.svg		 Portuguese Script error: No such module "Lang". and Script error: No such module "Lang". "New land", and the surname of João Fernandes Lavrador, meaning "farmer" or "plower"[9]
File:Flag of the Northwest Territories.svg Northwest Territories
File:Northwest Territories in Canada 2.svg		 English Referring to the territory's position relative to Rupert's Land
File:Flag of Nova Scotia.svg Nova Scotia
File:Nova Scotia in Canada 2.svg		 Latin "New Scotland", referring to the country Scotland, derived from the Latin Script error: No such module "Lang"., the term applied to Gaels[10][11]
File:Flag of Nunavut.svg Nunavut
File:Nunavut in Canada 2.svg		 Inuktitut Nunavut means "Our land" in the Inuit language[12]
File:Flag of Ontario.svg Ontario
File:Ontario in Canada 2.svg		 Iroquoian, Wyandot Ontarí꞉io or Skanadario "Great lake" or "beautiful water", after Lake Ontario[13][14]
File:Flag of Prince Edward Island.svg Prince Edward Island
File:Prince Edward Island in Canada 2.svg		 English (ultimately from Old English) After Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, ultimately from the Anglo-Saxon Script error: No such module "Lang". "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and Script error: No such module "Lang". "guardian, protector"[15]
File:Flag of Quebec.svg Quebec
File:Quebec in Canada 2.svg		 Algonquin, Mi'kmaq, Ojibwe Script error: No such module "Lang". "Where the river narrows", referring to the narrowing of the Saint Lawrence River at Quebec City[16]
File:Flag of Saskatchewan.svg Saskatchewan
File:Saskatchewan in Canada 2.svg		 Cree Script error: No such module "Lang". "Swift-flowing river", after the Saskatchewan River[17]
File:Flag of Yukon.svg Yukon
File:Yukon in Canada 2.svg		 Gwichʼin Script error: No such module "Lang". "White water river", after the Yukon River[18][19]

Historical regions

  • Acadia (Template:Langx): origin disputed:
    1. Credited to Florentine navigator Giovanni da Verrazzano, who first named a region around Chesapeake Bay Archadia (Arcadia) in 1524 because of "the beauty of its trees", according to his diary. Cartographers began using the name Arcadia to refer to areas progressively farther north until it referred to the French holdings in maritime Canada (particularly Nova Scotia). The -r- also began to disappear from the name on early maps, resulting in the current Acadia.[20]
    2. Possibly derived from the Míkmaq word Script error: No such module "Lang"., pronounced roughly "agadik", meaning "place", which French-speakers spelled as -cadie in place names such as Shubenacadie and Tracadie, possibly coincidentally.[21]
  • District of Keewatin: Algonquian roots—either Script error: No such module "Lang". (Script error: No such module "Lang".) in Cree or Script error: No such module "Lang". (Script error: No such module "Lang".) in Ojibwe—both of which mean 'north wind' in their respective languages.[22]
  • Nunatsiavut: Inuktitut, meaning "our beautiful land".[23]

See also

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References

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  1. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  2. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  4. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  5. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  6. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  7. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  8. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  9. ↑ Hamilton, William B. (1978): The Macmillan book of Canadian place names, Macmillan of Canada, Toronto, p. 105.
  10. ↑ Scottish Settlement Template:Webarchive. Novascotia.com. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
  11. ↑ P. Freeman, Ireland and the Classical World, Austin, 2001, pp. 93.
  12. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  13. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  14. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  15. ↑ Tidridge, Nathan. Prince Edward, Duke of Kent: Father of the Canadian Crown. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2013.
  16. ↑ Afable, Patricia O. and Madison S. Beeler (1996). "Place Names". In "Languages", ed. Ives Goddard. Vol. 17 of Handbook of North American Indians, ed. William C. Sturtevant. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, p. 191.
  17. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  18. ↑ "Dear Sir, I have great pleasure in informing you that I have at length after much trouble and difficulties, succeed[ed] in reaching the 'Youcon', or white water River, so named by the (Gwich'in) natives from the pale colour of its water. …, I have the honour to Remain Your obt Servt, John Bell" Hudson's Bay Company Correspondence to George Simpson from John Bell (August 1, 1845), HBC Archives, D.5/14, fos. 212-215d, also quoted in, Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  19. ↑ In Gwich'in, adjectives, such as Script error: No such module "Lang". [big] and Script error: No such module "Lang". [white], follow the nouns that they modify. Thus, white water is Script error: No such module "Lang". [water white]. White water river is Script error: No such module "Lang". [water white river]. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  20. ↑ Acadia: Origin of the Word by Bill CasselmanTemplate:Category handler[<span title="Script error: No such module "string".">usurped]Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
  21. ↑ Provinces and Territories - The origins of their names Template:Webarchive
  22. ↑ "Who Named the North-Land?". Manitoba Free Press. August 19, 1876. p. 3.
  23. ↑ Nunatsiavut Government|Nunatsiavut.com Template:Webarchive

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Further reading

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