Toponymie | Canton de Potton | Place Names

The origin and significance of the name “Missisquoi” remain uncertain.  According to some explanations, the Missisquoi Bay on Lake Champlain was reputed for the abundance and variety of aquatic birds found there.  It was extrapolated that the word Misi, which meant “great or big”, was coupled with Kisko, meaning “water-fowl”, both native words, to create the name Missisquoi.

Father Joseph-Étienne Guinard, however, put forward another explantion; this time using “misi” meaning great or big with the Algonquin word “kwok” meaning woman.  He concluded, therefore, that Missisquoi simply meant “big squaw” or big women.   That is not, however, a largely accepted translation. 

According to Joseph Laurent, chief of the Abenakis in the XIX^th century, the word “Missisquoi” in the modern tongue is presented as Masipskoik, signifying flint. 

History buffs among you can google Etymology of Missisquoi by Dr. George McAleer, interesting in its correspondence and deduction.  He concluded: “ (…) the word Missisquoi is of Abenaki origin (…) bestowed in accordance with Indian customs and signifies “great grassy place” ».^[1] 

The Missisquoi River headwaters are in Lowell, Vermont.  It finally reaches the Missisquoi Bay on Lake Champlain, after looping roughly 80 kilometres in Vermont and 150 kilometres in Quebec, including Potton.