This article lists the
etymologies
Etymology () The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the form of words a ...
of the
name
A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. They can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. The entity identified by a name is called its referent. A persona ...
s of the
provinces and territories of Canada
Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Canada, Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three pr ...
.
Provinces and territories
Historical regions
*
Acadia
Acadia (french: link=no, Acadie) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and Maine to the Kennebec River. During much of the 17th and earl ...
(french: Acadie): origin disputed:
:# Credited to
Florentine navigator
A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation.Grierson, MikeAviation History—Demise of the Flight Navigator FrancoFlyers.org website, October 14, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2014. The navigator's prima ...
Giovanni da Verrazzano
Giovanni da Verrazzano ( , , often misspelled Verrazano in English; 1485–1528) was an Italian ( Florentine) explorer of North America, in the service of King Francis I of France.
He is renowned as the first European to explore the Atlanti ...
, who first named a region around Chesapeake Bay ''Archadia'' (
Arcadia) in 1524 because of "the beauty of its trees", according to his diary. Cartographers began using the name ''Arcadia'' to refer to areas progressively farther north until it referred to the French holdings in maritime Canada (particularly
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Most of the population are native Eng ...
). The ''-r-'' also began to disappear from the name on early maps, resulting in the current ''Acadia''.
:# Possibly derived from the
Míkmaq word ', pronounced roughly "agadik", meaning "place", which French-speakers spelled as ''-cadie'' in place names such as
Shubenacadie and
Tracadie, possibly coincidentally.
*
Nunatsiavut
Nunatsiavut (; iu, italics=no, ᓄᓇᑦᓯᐊᕗᑦ) is an autonomous area claimed by the Inuit in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The settlement area includes territory in Labrador extending to the Quebec border. In 2002, the Labrador Inui ...
:
Inuktitut
Inuktitut (; , syllabics ; from , "person" + , "like", "in the manner of"), also Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, is one of the principal Inuit languages of Canada. It is spoken in all areas north of the tree line, including parts of the provinces o ...
, meaning "our beautiful land".
Nunatsiavut Government, Nunatsiavut.com
See also
* Locations in Canada with an English name
*List of Canadian place names of Ukrainian origin
The following is a list of place names in Canada (primarily Western Canada) whose name origin is in the Ukrainian language. Some places – especially in Saskatchewan – were named by ethnic Germans from Ukraine.
Most of these places were rural ...
*List of place names in Canada of Aboriginal origin
This list of place names in Canada of Indigenous origin contains Canadian places whose names originate from the words of the First Nations, Métis, or Inuit, collectively referred to as Indigenous Peoples. When possible the original word or p ...
* List of etymologies of country subdivision names
This article provides a collection of the etymology of the names of country subdivisions. This page generally only deals with regions and provinces; cities and other localities and features may appear listed under the individual country, with a ...
* Name of Canada
While a variety of theories have been postulated for the name of Canada, its origin is now accepted as coming from the St. Lawrence Iroquoian word , meaning 'village' or 'settlement'. In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec Ci ...
*Origins of names of cities in Canada
This article lists the etymologies of the names of cities across Canada.
Alberta
British Columbia
Manitoba
New Brunswick
Newfoundland and Labrador
Northwest Territories
Nova Scotia
Nunavut
Ontario
Prince Edward Island
Quebec
...
* Scottish place names in Canada
References
Further reading
*
*
*
{{Place name etymologies
province
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions out ...
etymologies
Etymology () The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the form of words a ...
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...