Lake Chaubunagungamaug , also known as Lake Webster , is a lake in the town of Webster, Massachusetts. It is located near the Connecticut border and has a surface area of ââ1442 acres. Since 1921, the lake is also known by a longer name with 45 letters consisting of fourteen syllables: Lake Charà ¢ goggà ¢ aÃ,goggà ¢ manÃ,chauggÃ,aÃ,goggÃ,chauÃ,bunÃ,aÃ,gungà , AÃ,maugg .
Video Lake Chaubunagungamaug
Name
The name of the lake comes from Nipmuc, Algonquian language, and is often said to mean, "The Place of Fishing at the Boundary - Place of Meeting Neutral". A more fitting translation is "lake divided by islands", according to anthropologist Ives Goddard.
Today, "Webster Lake" is probably the most widely used name, but some (including many Webster residents) are proud of the longer version. The lake has several alternative names. Lake Chaubunagungamaug is a lake name recognized by the US Department of the Interior, and is the name that appears in the earliest local records.
The Algonquian-speaking people have several different names for the lake as recorded on old maps and historical records. However, all of these are partially similar and have almost identical translations. Among other early names are "Chabanaguncamogue" and "Chaubanagogum". Early city records show the name as "Chabunagungamaug Pond", which is also the name of the local Nipmuc town (recorded in 1668 and 1674 with somewhat different spellings). This has been translated as "border fishing", but something close to "border fishing" or "which is divided island lakes" may be more accurate.
Map 1795, showing the town of Dudley, and map of 1795 Massachusetts showing its name, using eight long syllables, such as "Chargoggagoggmanchoggagogg". A survey of lakes conducted in 1830 listed the name as "Chaubunagungamaugg", the name of the six older syllables. The following year, both Dudley and Oxford, who then side by side with the lake, filed a map of the lake list with an eight-syllable form, as "Chargoggagoggmanchoggagogg". Anthropologist Ives Goddard considers that the name 1831 to be a cartographic maker that damages its true name while confusing this lake with the nearby Manchaug Pond.
The long name was created around 1921
Excessive name "Lake CharÃ,goggÃ,aÃ,goggÃ,manÃ,chauggÃ,aÃ,goggÃ,chauÃ,bunÃ,aÃ,gungÃ,aÃ,maugg" (
The funny translation is: "You fish at your side, I will fishing on my side, and no one will be fishing in the middle". The exaggerated name and the amusing translation are apparently found by Laurence J. Daly, editor of The Webster Times . According to Ives Goddard, Curator of Anthropology at the Smithsonian Institution, Daly created this "monstrosity" around 1921.
Spelling of long names varies; in 2009, after six years of press reports, the local Chamber of Commerce agreed to change the spelling on its markings, but the 45-letter version of the name arranged in a semicircle is still in use. Webster schools use a long form of names in various capacities.
Maps Lake Chaubunagungamaug
Geography
Lake Webster is a 1,270 hectare (5.1 km km 2 ) lake with a 17 mile (27 km) coastline in southern Massachusetts, near the Connecticut border. It is the third largest freshwater body in Massachusetts, after a slightly larger Long Pond, and a much larger Quabbin Reservoir. The average depth is 13 feet (4.0 m) and the maximum depth is 49 feet (15 m).
Although the lake is natural, its outlet has a dam that raises the water level by a few feet. Originally the dam provided water for grinding, and then the water rights to the lake were owned by Cranston Print Works; Currently, the dam is owned by Webster Lake Preservation LLC.
The lake is usually divided into three smaller water bodies: the North Pond, the Middle Pool, and the Southern Pond. They are connected by a narrow channel.
Islands
Lake Webster has about 7-8 islands. Some have homes and are habitable; some very small and uninhabitable. They include:
- Long Island: The largest island on Lake Webster. It has many homes and has mains, municipal/municipal waterways and plumbing services, and some fire hydrants. It's in the Central Pool.
- Goat Island: The second largest island. It has several houses and boats. It's in the middle pool but isolated from the cluster of islands that includes Long Island.
- Well Island: A smaller island with a house west of Long Island in Middle Pond.
- Island Strip: Generally in Northeast Long Island and north of Cobble Island with one house, also in the Central Pond.
- Cobble Island: East Long Island, in the Central Pond.
- Small Island: In South Pond, there is no wake zone from the Central Pond, one house.
- Birch Island: Big island on the western edge of Middle Pond with Pout Pond on the western side and swamps that surround the entire island. Located approximately between Treasure Island and The Narrows with access by the bridge on Birch Island Road near The Narrows. There are many homes on the island and a building once called Birch Island Pavilion, now called Waterfront Mary's.
- Small island near the eastern side of the Narrows in Middle Pond. It might be called Misery Island, but not sure of that name.
Marinas
Lake Webster has two marinas:
- Lakeview Marine: The only complete marine store and service store in Webster Lake.
- Point Breeze: Restaurant with small marina. Point Breeze Marina has the only gas station on the lake.
Pop culture
In the 1950s, plans to shorten the official name of the lake inspired the poetry of doggerel poetry that concluded:
"Touch not g!" There are no evil hands Will seize one from that noble name
Fifteen in all their glory stands And it will remain the same Because it will never drop that figure,
Tho Gogg and Magogg screams and thunder; Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg's famous Will burn, flare city,
While the nations stared and wondered.
Three songs about the name of the lake have been written. The first is a regional song from the 1930s. The second was recorded by Ethel Merman and Ray Bolger and released in 1954 by Decca and incorporated the story of the name of the lake according to the inventor of the name, Laurence J. Daly, editor of The Webster Times. The latest one was released in 2010 by Diane Taraz.
On the show, Gilmore Girls , (Season 6, Episode 6) Kirk offers the name "Chargogagogmanchogagogcharbunagunggamog" as a potential street name for the Dragonfly Inn. He said the Indian name of Nipmuc is said to mean, "You are fishing by the side of the lake; I will fish on my side and no one will be fishing in the middle." According to Kirk, it could also mean "buffalo". The episode aired on October 17, 2005.
See also
- List of long place names
- The longest word in English
- Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, name of the longest place in the UK
- Longest words
- Chaubunagungamaug Nipmuck
- Chaubunagungamaug Reservation
References
External links
- Lake history
- NY Times - What's the Name of the Lake? Difficult to Say
- Listen to Song Lake
- Webster Lake Real Estate Boat Tours
- Chaubunagungamaugg Lake Map
- Watershed area Map
- Photo of Lake Chaubunagungamaugg 1
- Photo of Lake Chaubunagungamaugg 2
Source of the article : Wikipedia