Talk:Nemaska

Etymology

The word Nemiskâ ᓀᒥᔅᑳᐤ is recorded as such in toponymic surveys and maps going all the way back to the 1700's. It does not mean "lots of fish," for which the Cree term would be "namesiskâw." However, the latter is generally the accepted etymology, mainly because the local people understand it as such. It is however, a folk etymology. The reason why the meaning is opaque is due to an archaic form of the medial meaning "lakebed," which historically appears as -misk- and is frequently found in many toponyms (which are naturally very old names), but is -âmisk- in the modern dialect. These kinds of changes are common in the history of the Cree language. Nemiskâw is therefore simply an archaic form of the modern word neyâmiskâw, which means "an underwater point," i.e., a raised portion of the lake bed that extends out from the shore in the form of a point. This kind of feature would have been important to fishermen like the nemiskâw people, who relied heavily on fishing during the summer at that location, hence also why the folk etymology seems to credible.

I have therefore modified the etymology in the main page. Mikisiw (talk) 20:17, 24 April 2014 (UTC)