Ask Chicagoist: How Do You Say "Chicago"?

By Sarah in Miscellaneous on Aug 1, 2005 5:20PM

I grew up pronouncing Chicago as though the second syllable had a "w" (chi-caw-go, like the sound a crow makes). Mayor Daley, among others, pronounces it this way. From time to time, I hear other natives pronouncing it chi-cah-go (rhymes with 'ma'). As far as I can tell, this is not a North Side Side/South Side or black/white phenomenon. Any thoughts?

We are quite keen on self-preservation and will therefore not attempt to cross the minefield presented by this question. But, here's what we have been able to find out. The newfangled digital Dictionary says: Chi·ca·go (sh-käg, -kô-), and then goes on to say, hilariously!, that the inhabitants of these parts are called "Chicagoans"... when everyone knows its ChicagoIST! ahem. (We'll leave it to you to sort out the pronunciation key.)

Of course, there is always more to the story. And nothing makes Chicagoist jump around for joy like an excuse to do some etymological research. We have sleuthed, dear readers, only to find ourselves knee-deep in a boggy pond adjacent to an onion patch. None of this adds up to a Grand Moment of Nomenclatural Significance that would explain it all, but here goes:

"The name Chicago is first recorded in 1688 in a French document, where it appears as Chigagou, an Algonquian word meaning “onion field.” In explanation of this name, the document states there that wild onion or garlic grew profusely in the area. The name of the field or meadow was first transferred to the river and then was given to the city in 1830."

Now, the very same source, a sensible-seeming history of the much-ballyhooed World's Exposition of 1893, goes on to say this:

"[Joliet] traced on a rough map the course of the Chicago, or as it was then called the Chacaqua river, the latter being the Indian word for thunder, and from which is probably derived the name of our mid-continent metropolis, though by some its origin is traced to Checagow, or Chekagou, an onion, for onions grew plentifully along the banks of the stream."

The Chicago Public Library's cool history site weighs in with this:

The name "Chicago" derived from the Indians but it is not known which tribe named the town and many theories have been advanced to explain the origin of the name. One generally accepted is that the name comes from the Indian words for either wild onion or skunk, but some historians believe that the word Chicago denoted "strong" or "great." Dr. William Barry, first secretary of the Chicago Historical Society, wrote, "Whatever may have been the etymological meaning of the word Chicago in its practical use, it probably denoted strong or great. The Indians applied this term to the Mississippi River, to thunder, or to the voice of the great Manitou."

Uh, sure, Strong or Great. That's totally what "stinky, icky, like a boggy onion patch" actually means! We love you, Dr. Barry! Can we smell your armpits?

Meanwhile, the hipsters at Wikipedia have this to say:

"During the mid 1700s, the Chicago area was inhabited primarily by Potawatomis, who took the place of the Miami and Sauk and Fox who had controlled the area previously. The name Chicago originates from "Checagou" (Chick-Ah-Goo-Ah) or "Checaguar" which in the Potawatomi language means 'wild onions' or 'skunk'. The area was so named because of the smell of rotting marshland wild leeks (ramps) that used to cover it."

So many ways to slice it: skunk, onions, greatness, Powatowami, Algonquians, thunder, strength, leeks, general funkyness. Your choice, Chicago!

(If anyone is craving onions like we are, check out this random onion trivia.)

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