WHAT’S IN A NAME ? Reclaiming original names

Place names can either reveal or conceal history. For example, there’s debate about the origins of the word Kejimkujik, the name of Nova Scotia’s largest national park. It could mean “tired muscles” or “a long way to paddle.” Both meanings refer to Kejimkujik Lake as the centre of a major inland navigational route travelled for millennia by the Mi’kmaq. Names such as Kejimkujik reveal the history of Mi’kmaw ancestral lands and the cultural importance of specific places.

However, most Nova Scotia place names come from settler languages: English, French, Gaelic, and German. Some place names even conceal from the average visitor origins that are painful for the Mi’kmaq. Some towns, streets, rivers and lakes take their names from oppressive, even violent historical figures. Names such as Amherst, Lawrencetown, and Cornwallis, commemorating British military and government officials who worked to wipe out the Mi’kmaw people, continue to cause harm.

The current process of returning to Mi’kmaw place names is part of the reconciliation process, helping to heal deep, historical wounds. This process reminds everyone of pre-contact times and helps Mi’kmaw reclaim important parts of their heritage, giving everyone a new perspective on the place the Mi’kmaq have always shared with settlers.

Take for example the name for Nova Scotia. The Mi’kmaq refer to their traditional territory — roughly Nova Scotia, P.E.I., and parts of New Brunswick and Maine — as Mi’kma’ki and think of it as divided into seven districts. The fourth district, Cape Breton Island, is called Unama’ki. One large district in mainland Nova Scotia, including today’s capital city, Halifax, is known as Sipekne'katik.

The Mi’kmaw language differs from English in many ways. Whereas some languages organize along masculine and feminine lines, Mi’kmaw words are either animate or inanimate. Whereas drum or “pepkijetaqn” is inanimate, eagle or “kitpu” is animate. As a result, Mi’kmaq tends to be a more active language than those of European origin. Place names often arise from their role in Mi’kmaw culture and daily life. They might describe a bay particularly good for fishing, a shore that sees a lot of wave action, or an island that’s a good stopping place on a long journey.

Halifax is Kjipuktuk, pronounced "che-book-took," meaning “Great Harbour.” The Anglicized version of the Mi’kmaw word became the name for one of the city’s main arteries, Chebucto Road. Acknowledging and celebrating the Mi’kmaw origins of place names, as well as reverting to the original Indigenous names, respects the first people of these ancestral lands and enriches the understanding of this place for everyone. *