WHAT'S IN A NAME: Latin words combined to form 'Itasca'

Nicole Ronchetti, The Bemidji Pioneer, Minn.
·1 min read

Aug. 13—Editor's note: This is part of a 20-story series titled "What's in a name?" completed by Pioneer reporters for our 2022 Annual Report. Read more of the section by clicking the embed at the bottom of this article.

If you're like most people in the United States, you might assume that Itasca is an Ojibwe word, but it turns out that's far from the case.

The name of the lake famous for being the headwaters of the Mississippi River, and the associated state park, is a word invented by explorer Henry Rowe Schoolcraft that was meant to sound like nearby Native American languages.

The actual Ojibwe name for Lake Itasca is Omashkoozo-zaaga'igan, which means Elk Lake.

An Ojibwe guide, named Ozaawindib, led Schoolcraft to the lake in 1832 as part of an expedition to find the source of the Mississippi.

After arriving, Schoolcraft crafted a new faux-Native American name for the lake using a combination of syllables from two Latin words: veritas (meaning truth) and caput (meaning head).

Combined, Schoolcraft intended the word to mean "true head" in honor of the river's start.