Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 75.37.77.236 (talk) at 16:59, 6 December 2008 (→The lake). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Lake Chaubunagungamaug (Template:PronEng), also known as "'Webster Lake", is a lake in the town of Webster, Massachusetts, United States. It is located near the Connecticut border and has a surface area of 1,442 acres (5.83 km²).

Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg (/ˌleɪk tʃəˈɡɑːɡəɡɑːɡ ˌmænˈtʃɑːɡəɡɑːɡ tʃəˌbʌnəˈɡʌŋɡəmɑːɡ/), a 45-letter alternative name for this body of water, is often cited as the longest place name in the United States and one of the longest in the world. Today, "Webster Lake" may be the name most used, but some (including many residents of Webster), take pride in reeling off the longer versions.

">Old Webster History</ref>

A map of 1795, showing the town of Dudley, indicated the name as "Chargoggaggoggmanchoggagogg". A survey of the lake done in 1830 lists the name as Chaubunagungamaugg, the older name. The following year, both Dudley and Oxford, which adjoined the lake, filed maps listing the name as "Chargoggagoggmanchoggagogg".

Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg, the extra-long version of the name, is the longest place name in the United States and 6th longest in the world. Its 15 uses of "g" are the most instances of any letter in a word. The name also contains 9 instances of the letter "a" (not including the "a" in "lake"), more than any word in the English language.

This longest name means approximately "Englishmen at Manchaug at the fishing place at the boundary" and was applied in the 19th century when White people built factories in the area. "Manchaug" is derived from the "Monuhchogoks", a group of Nipmuck that lived by the lakeshore. Spelling of the long name varies, even on official signs near the lake. Webster schools use this long form of the name in various capacities.

Larry Daly, editor of The Webster Times, wrote a humorous article in the 1920s about the lake and the disputes concerning the meaning of its name. He proposed the tongue-in-cheek translation "You Fish on Your Side, I Fish on My Side, Nobody Fish in the Middle". It has met with so much popular acceptance that relatively little attention has been paid to the actual translation.

Two songs about the lake's name have been written. One was a regional song from the 1930s and the other was recorded by Ethel Merman and Ray Bolger and released in 1954 by Decca. The latter incorporates the tale about the lake's name according to Daly.

In the 1950s, a plan to set the official name of the water to Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg rather than the longer version inspired a poem of doggerel verse which concludes:

"Touch not a g!" No impious hand
Shall wrest one from that noble name
Fifteen in all their glory stand
And ever shall the same.
For never shall that number down,
Tho Gogg and Magogg shout and thunder;
Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg's renown
Shall blaze, the beacon of the town,

While nations gaze and wonder.

See also

• Longest word in English
• Longest place name in the UK

References

1. ^ Miller, Jeff (1 April 2006). "A Collection of Word Oddities and Trivia". Retrieved 2006-05-25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
2. ^ Cite error: The named reference oldewebster was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
3. Nipmuc Place Names of New England
4. Fabrication leaves us gasping - Old twist to name of lake comes to light
5. Poem by Bertha A. Joslin

External links

• A history of the lake
• NY Times - What's the Name of That Lake? It's Hard to Say
• Listen to the Lake Song
• U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Lake Chaubunagungamaug for official name
• Map of Lake Chaubunagungamaug
• Map of the area watershed
• Lake Chaubunagungamaug photos 1
• Lake Chaubunagungamaug photos 2

Template:Geolinks-US-cityscale

• Lakes of Massachusetts
• Worcester County, Massachusetts
• Algonquian toponyms