itasca

When we last spoke on the phone we talked a bit about place names (including Nauvoo), and, the more I turn it over in my mind, the more I think that keeping an eye on names will be a good thing to do. Place names are concrete little texts in which a connection is forged between the abstract categories of language, landscape, and mental map.

With that in mind, I thought I'd record the fact that the name, Itasca, which sounds as if it might be Native American, was in fact made up Henry Schoolcraft, who traced the soure of the Mississippi to the lake. It is a blend of the Latin words verITAS (truth) and CAput (head). (The Ojibwe name is apparently Omashkoozo-zaaga'igan - Elk Lake.) It seems that Schoolcraft was given to making up names with a Native American sound. Those wonderful people at the Minnesota Historical Society have a short article on this here.