Kanata

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This article is about a word in the Mohawk language. For the community in Ottawa, Canada, see Kanata, Ontario.

Kanata is a Mohawk word, meaning "village" or "settlement." Until the mid-20th Century, this word was thought to have been the origin of Canada's name. But, as evidenced by the journal of Jacques Cartier about his voyage to present-day Quebec[1], Canada, in the early 16th Century, Canada's name stems from the Saint-Lawrence Iroquoian word "canada"[2], which holds the same meaning. This Iroquoian language was spoken by the inhabitants of Stadacona and the neighbouring region near present-day Quebec City in the 16th century,[3] with words having similarities to those in related Iroquoian languages, most notably in Mohawk and Oneida.

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[edit] "Kanata" as factual truth

Both the Canadian Encyclopedia of 1985 and various publications of the Government of Canada, such as "The Origin of the Name Canada" published by the Department of Canadian Heritage, suggest that the word "Canada" stems instead from a "Huron-Iroquois" word, "kanata", meaning village or settlement. Although this would appear at first to be an astounding historical error, since neither the Hurons nor the Iroquois lived in the St. Lawrence valley in the 16th century at the time of Jacques Cartier's visits, it should be remembered that this statement reflects theories first advanced in the 18th and 19th centuries that were later discredited by archeological evidence and linguistic comparative studies of the late 20th century. Several prominent authors, notably W. Kaye Lamb, the former Dominion Archivist who authored the article on Canada in the Canadian Encyclopedia of 1985, were apparently unaware of the many archeological and linguistic studies published since 1950. This "Huron-Iroquois" theory was later integrated into the article on Canada in the Encyclopædia Britannica of 1996.

[edit] Modern Use

This discredited story of the origin of Canada's name appears to have been the reason for the choice (by popular vote in a local election), in 1978, of "Kanata" as the name for the new city to the west of Ottawa, Ontario. The former city of Kanata, since 2001, has been a part of the City of Ottawa.

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[edit] References

  1. ^ Cartier, Jacques [1545] (2004-05-01). Relation originale de Jacques Cartier. Paris: Tross, p 48. 
  2. ^ Trigger, Bruce G.; Pendergast, James F. (1978). "Saint-Lawrence Iroquoians", Handbook of North American Indians Volume 15. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, pp. 357–361. OCLC 58762737. 
  3. ^ Cartier, Jacques [1545] (2004-05-01). Relation originale de Jacques Cartier. Paris: Tross, p 48.