Lake Chaubunagungamaug

Lake Chaubunagungamaug (pronounced /tʃəˌbʌnəˈɡʌŋɡəmɔːɡ/), also known as Webster Lake, is a lake in the town of Webster, Massachusetts, United States. It is located near the Connecticut border and has a surface area of 1,442 acres (5.83 km²). The name comes from Nipmuc, an Algonquian language, and is believed to mean, "Fishing Place at the Boundaries -- Neutral Meeting Grounds".^[1] This is different from the translation, "You fish on your side, I fish on my side, and nobody fish in the middle", a hoax believed to have been concocted by the late Laurence J. Daly, a Worcester newspaper correspondent.^[1]

Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg (/ˌleɪk tʃəˈɡɑːɡəɡɑːɡ ˌmænˈtʃɑːɡəɡɑːɡ tʃəˌbʌnəˈɡʌŋɡəmɑːɡ/[1][2]), a 45-letter alternative name for this body of salt water, is often cited as the longest place name in the United States and one of the longest in the world. Today, "Webster Lake" may be the name most used, but some (including many residents of Webster), take pride in reeling off the longer versions.^[2]

Lake Chaubunagungamaug
Location	Webster, Massachusetts
Coordinates	42°02′30″N 71°50′30″W / 42.04167°N 71.84167°W / 42.04167; -71.84167Coordinates: 42°02′30″N 71°50′30″W / 42.04167°N 71.84167°W / 42.04167; -71.84167
Basin  countries	United States
Max. length	3.25 mi (5.23 km)
Max. width	1.125 mi (1.811 km)
Surface area	1,442 acres (584 ha)
Shore  length1	17 mi (27 km)
Surface  elevation	477 feet (145.39 metres)
Islands	8
1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure.

Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg sign (with 2 misspellings)

Name

This lake has several alternative names. Lake Chaubunagungamaug is the name of the lake as recognized by the U.S. Department of the Interior,^[3] however, many area residents, as well as the official website of the town of Webster, consider the longer version correct.^[4] The name comes from Nipmuc, an Algonquian language spoken by the local Nipmuc people. The lake was an important fishing spot on the borders of several tribal territories and lay at the nexus of many local paths of the Great Trail system. For these reasons the lake was often used as a meeting place.

Algonquian-speaking peoples had several different names for the lake as recorded on old maps and historical records. However, all of these were similar in part and had almost the same translation. Among other early names were "Chabanaguncamogue" and "Chaubanagogum".^[5] Early town records show the name as "Chabunagungamaug Pond", also the name of the local Nipmuc town (recorded in 1668 and 1674 with somewhat different spellings). This has been translated as 'boundary fishing place',^[6] but something close to "fishing place at the boundary" or "that which is a divided island lake" may be more accurate.^[7]

A map of 1795, showing the town of Dudley, indicated the name as "Chargoggaggoggmanchoggagogg". A survey of the lake done in 1830 lists the name as "Chaubunagungamaugg", the older name. The following year, both Dudley and Oxford, which adjoined the lake, filed maps listing the name as "Chargoggagoggmanchoggagogg".^[5]

Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg, the full-length version of the name, is the longest place name in the United States and 6th longest in the world. An even longer, 49-letter version of the name, "Chargoggagoggmanchauggauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg" has been cited (extra letters in bold).^[2] Its 17 uses of "g" are the most instances of any letter in a word. The name also contains 10 instances of the letter "a" (not including the "a" in "lake"), more than any word in the English language.^[2]

This longest name means approximately "Englishmen at Manchaug at the fishing place at the boundary" and was applied in the 19th century when white Europeans built factories in the area. "Manchaug" is derived from the "Monuhchogoks", a group of Nipmuck that lived by the lakeshore. Spellings of the long name vary, even on official signs near the lake; in 2009, following six years of press reports, the local Chamber of Commerce agreed to have the spelling corrected on its signs, where a 45-letter version of the name arrayed in a semicircle was used. It did not correspond to any of the two dozen variants in the GNIS.^[8] Webster schools use one long form of the name in various capacities.^[5][9]

Larry Daly, editor of The Webster Times, wrote a humorous article in the 1920s about the lake and the disputes concerning the meaning of its name. He proposed the tongue-in-cheek translation "You Fish on Your Side, I Fish on My Side, Nobody Fish in the Middle".^[1] It has met with so much popular acceptance that relatively little attention has been paid to the actual translation.

Two songs about the lake's name have been written. One was a regional song from the 1930s and the other was recorded by Ethel Merman and Ray Bolger and released in 1954 by Decca. The latter incorporates the tale about the lake's name according to Daly.

A patch with the name of the lake

In the 1950s, a plan to set the official name of the water to Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg rather than the longer version inspired a poem of doggerel verse which concludes:

"Touch not a g!" No impious hand
Shall wrest one from that noble name
Fifteen in all their glory stand
And ever shall the same.
For never shall that number down,
Tho Gogg and Magogg shout and thunder;
Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg's renown
Shall blaze, the beacon of the town,
While nations gaze and wonder.^[10]

Lake

Islands

Webster lake has about 7-8 Islands, some have houses and are habitable , a few are extremely small and uninhabitable.They include:

• Long Island- The largest island located on Webster Lake, it has many homes and power lines stretched across providing electricity ect. It is located in the Middle Pond.
• Goat Island- The second largest island, it also has a few homes and boats on its shoreline. It is located in the Middle Pond, but isolated from the cluster of islands which include Long Island.
• Well Island- An smaller island located West of Long Island in the Middle pond.
• Strip Island- Generally Northeast of Long Island and North of Cobble Island, also in the Middle Pond
• Cobble island- East of Long Island, in the Middle Pond.
• Little Island- Located in the South Pond portion of the lake, right out of the No Wake Zone from the Middle Pond.

Marinas

Webster lake has a marina, called Action Marine. They have a showroom and provide many other maritime services.

Point Breeze, a restaurant, also has a small marina. Point Breeze Marina has the only dockside gas pump available on the lake.

Restaurants

Webster Lake has 2 waterfront restaurants open to the public.

Waterfront Mary's - is located in the Middle Pond, near the narrows which lead to the North Pond. You can beach your PWC or dock up your boat, they have food and drinks, and a patio with great views of the largest section of the lake.

Point Breeze Restaurant - Is located in the Middle Pond, next to Point Breeze Marina. You can dock up your pontoon boats and take the staircase to the restaurant. They have occasional live music, they also hold wedding functions along with being a great restaurant.

See also

• Longest word in English
• Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, the longest place name in the UK
• Longest words

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lake Chaubunagungamaug

• A history of the lake
• NY Times - What's the Name of That Lake? It's Hard to Say
• Listen to the Lake Song
• USGS GNIS: Lake Chaubunagungamaug
• Map of Lake Chaubunagungamaug
• Map of the area watershed
• Lake Chaubunagungamaug photos 1
• Lake Chaubunagungamaug photos 2