The word, the name Chautauqua, however spelled, does not mean:
· Bag tied in the middle
· Two moccasins
· Where the fish was taken out
· Where the child was lost
· The foggy place
· The place high up
· The place of easy death
Or anything else you may have heard or read. There are a dozen “meanings” and over 50 spellings. We may never know where the name came from. We aren’t even sure what language it originated in. The lake may or may not have been previously called St. Croix, Honniasontke or Onniasont, and Conde.
Chautauqua and Chadakoin were ultimately the same word in the 18th century. However, in the 19th century, the Chadakoin River was never called that and no other use of that spelling was made until the Chadakoin Boat Club formed in 1889. The Outlet began to be called Chadakoin in 1891.
