Talk:Kawartha Lakes, Ontario
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Canada and related WikiProjects, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to articles on Canada-related topics. If you would like to participate, visit the project member page, to join the project and/or contribute to the discussion. |
| Start | This article has been rated as Start-Class on the quality scale. |
| Mid | This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the importance scale. |
 |
 |
A section of this article is within the scope of the WikiProject Etymology, an attempt at improving etymologies on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks. |
| This article's etymology section is incomplete or unreferenced. | |
| This article is ranked 3 on the priority scale. |
Contents |
[edit] Kawartha - A Bobcaygeonism:
As a Bobcaygeonite for many years, and having done a fair bit of research on the matter, I can finally explain the origin of the word Kawartha. In the 1950s, Bobcaygeon was experiencing a bit of a tourism slump. Up until the 1940s, the many of tourists coming to Bobcaygeon were from Ohio, Michigan, New York and many other places - these people coming to town on the Canadian Pacific Railway from Toronto and beyond.
By the 1950s, the automobile and a much-improved highway system was starting make its effects felt: people were changing their travel patterns, and instead of coming to Bobcaygeon for weeks on end, they could flit about almost anywhere a tank of gas could take them. The Canadian Pacific Railway pulled up their stakes in Bobcaygeon in 1957.
The town fathers looked around them and tried to figure out what other places had that Bobcaygeon did not. At this time, the Muskokas were really taking off. Many many people would rush into the Muskokas for a weekend, but not much of that traffic was coming our way. So a delegation from the town council, headed by Ab Bottom travelled to Curve Lake to have a talk with the elders there. They asked for a cool indian name to call the area.
Ka-wa-tha is what they came up with (Land of Shining Waters.) They came back to town, and happily began spreading around the new title for their lakes: the Kawathas. As you have pointed out, the Ojibwa have no "R" sound in their language, hence the Kawatha. The Bobcaygeonites (and many Americans) also had problems saying it as delivered, so some enterprising individual in the Bobcaygeon Chamber of Commerce added the "R" after a couple of years. If you don't believe me, go up to Coboconk. There is still a business there called "Kawatha Garage" and no it is not a typo!!!
So, there it is. Kawartha was a Bobcaygeonism, and Anglicization of a made-up Ojibwa word, so all that you hear perpetuated that Kawartha is a Peterborough thing, is really a bunch of bunk. I think that Peterborough has only recently learned how to properly spell their name, the common usage was Peterboro, no?
As for "We Love Beavers," well that goes without saying, but perhaps someone could come up with the Ojibwa word for "Fresh Great Blue Heron Tracks Through a Big Pile of Osprey Poop on a pile of sand" Now THAT would be impressive.
Cli0019 11:56, 30 April 2007 (UTC)Cli0019 17:18, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
[edit]
The area has many beavers around, which has lead to the nickname "We love Beavers", in an attempt to out-odd the Newfoundland town of Dildo.
This seems like nonsense to me - I don't think the beaver population in Kawartha Lakes is abnormal for Central Ontario; "We love Beavers" is not really a nickname; who us supposed to be making this so-called attempt? (certainly not city officials); is Dildo, Newfoundland the pinnacle of Canadian oddness? I'm eliding it, but I haven't lived there in some time, so please correct me if this is actually an established fact. Zander 12:05, 19 May 2005 (UTC)
[edit] name etymology
The name "Kawartha" does not sound like it is Ojibwe and some sources I came across said Wyandot, so on the Kawartha lakes pages, it was chaged back in November of 2006 to reflect that. Now, thinking about it, though it still does not sound like an Ojibwe word, I thought of a possible Ojibwe etymology. Could someone please find and source the region's name? If it really is Ojibwe, it might be something like Gaa-waasagamaag ("place where the lake-water is bright / is shining / have white-caps") and was corrupted down to its present name. In general, since the Mississauga Ojibwe language in the region was one of the earliest documented Ojibwe (such as by Evans and by Sommerfield), both clearly recorded Ojibwe of that region did not have any "r" or "th" sounds, though often "r" is used in English to denote lengthening of a vowel. Just a thought. CJLippert 00:38, 25 March 2007 (UTC)
- I've come across this from Basil Johnston's Anishinaubae Thesaurus (2007): "Gau-wautae-gummauh glistening body of water; Kawartha Lakes, Ontario." Seems like my guess was close, but if his pronunciation were to be put in Fiero orthography, it would be Gaa-waategamaag (grammatically, should have a final -g to go with the gaa-). I will adjust the Kawartha Lakes, Ontario and the Kawartha lakes articles accordingly.CJLippert 00:17, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Merger
- Do not merege. Why would you merge the article about the City with the article about the lakes just because they have the same name? The lakes do not lie wholly within the boundaries of the city -- they go into neighbouring counties. Ground Zero | t 02:45, 25 March 2007 (UTC)
- No merge. Agree with Ground Zero. -- P199 00:07, 27 March 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Vankoughnet
Vankoughnet is listed as being within Kawartha Lakes, but the current Ontario Roadmap Online Map 5 shows it as part of the amalgamated Town of Bracebridge. papageno 05:30, 6 November 2007 (UTC)
