Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg

English

Etymology

A fanciful enlargement of the original name, Chaubunagungamaug (see that entry for its history), invented along with a fanciful translation in 1921 by Laurence J. Daly, the editor of The Webster Times, who incorporated the name of the nearby Manchaug Pond and a number of meaningless syllables.[1][2][3]

Pronunciation
  • (US) IPA(key): /tʃɑɹ.ɡɑɡˌmæn.tʃɑˈɡæɡ.ɡɑɡ.tʃɑ.buˌnæ.ɡuŋ.ɡə.mɑɡ/

Proper noun

Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg

  1. Synonym of Lake Chaubunagungamaug in Massachusetts, USA.

Usage notes
  • Although it is not the official name of the place, this is claimed by some references to be the longest place name in the USA.[4]

References
  1. Ives Goddard, Untitled review of Trumbull (1974), in International Journal of American Linguistics, volume 43, no. 2 (April, 1977), pp. 157–159
  2. Ives Goddard, "Time to Retire an Indian Place-Name Hoax", The New York Times (September 29, 1990)
  3. Pam Belluck, What's the Name of That Lake? It's Hard to Say (November 30, 2004)
  4. Language Hat
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.