Talk:Lake Superior

Semi-protected edit request on 11 April 2015

Please change (at the very start of the article):

Lake Superior (French: Lac Supérieur)

to

Lake Superior (Anishinaabe: Gichigamiwininiwag, French: Lac Supérieur)

or to:

Lake Superior (Anishinaabe: Gichigamiwininiwag)

The French association with the lake was very fleeting. The Anishinaabe still live here.

24.118.205.125 (talk) 04:54, 11 April 2015 (UTC)

Not done: please establish a consensus for this alteration before using the {{edit semi-protected}} template. Roborule (talk) 16:36, 12 April 2015 (UTC)

(I apologize if my weak understanding of wiki conventions has led me to put this in the wrong place.)

Of course, presenting names by which the lake might known in various far-removed languages around the world would not be appropriate for the article's introduction. (Though I could see how some readers might appreciate a section that lists how it's labelled on maps in Japanese, German, Russian, Spanish, Finnish, etc.) However, the centuries-old French name is of particular significance because it's where the English name came from. It is mentioned immediately after the title term for etymological reasons.

Even so, I believe that relationship is adequately covered in the next section, as it is for the Anishinaabe term as well. Given that, neither is really vital for inclusion in the opening line. Perhaps even a spelling that's more in line with how it is now pronounced in one of the several Ojibwe dialects used around the lake would arguably be more suitable than textbook Anishinaabe. For that matter, even though it's regarded as a corruption, "Gitche Gummee" has been so widely adopted by the broader culture as a nickname for the lake that, like it or not, perhaps it, too, should be noted up front as a commonly used monicker. (Maybe it was not intended, but the article vaguely implies that Longfellow picked it up from Bishop Baraga's linguistic survey, but I always learned that he got it from Schoolcraft.)

Still, I wouldn't be so quick to assume that French lacks relevance to the modern local demographic. In almost all the populated areas along the north shore, 5-20% of the residents are bilingual (English & French...or, I suppose, trilingual, as First Nations citizens represent a large proportion of the population). However, I do rather suspect (okay, wildly guess) that they typically use the English name, even when speaking French. (I also suspect that very few folks in the communities on the lake or northward are exclusively Francophonic...at least, by comparison to the rest of the province, such as southern Ontario or the "French corridor" on the eastern edge from Sudbury and North Bay roughly following Highway 11 on up to Timmons and Hearst.) Starling2001 (talk) 00:30, 29 August 2018 (UTC)

External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 8 external links on Lake Superior. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

• Corrected formatting/usage for http://environment.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg19426064.100
• Corrected formatting/usage for http://environment.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg19426064.100
• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20051105005812/http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/superior/superiorfacts.html to http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/superior/superiorfacts.html
• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070812025204/http://www.mndm.gov.on.ca/mndm/mines/ims/amethyst/default_e.asp to http://www.mndm.gov.on.ca/mndm/mines/ims/amethyst/default_e.asp
• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110505021024/http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pr/ourlakes/gl_tour.html to http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pr/ourlakes/gl_tour.html
• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20150105214620/http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pr/pr_images/tour/GreatLakesTour_Merged.kmz to http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pr/pr_images/tour/GreatLakesTour_Merged.kmz
• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20100808074846/http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/res/Programs/glscf/hydrology.html to http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/res/Programs/glscf/hydrology.html
• Added {{dead link}} tag to http://www.ijc.org/conseil_board/superior_lake/en/superior_home_accueil.htm
• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20060806092612/http://www.pc.gc.ca/progs/amnc-nmca/plan/gla2_e.asp to http://www.pc.gc.ca/progs/amnc-nmca/plan/gla2_E.asp

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Basic map needed

Northern Michigan and Lake Superior,
Map published 1879 by Rand McNally     

@Magnolia677: Out of all the different types of maps in the article, not one of them depicts the rivers, bays, points, islands and various towns by name. As such, the article is badly lacking. Realizing the map is dated, it still was the best one to depict a multitude of points of interest in and around Lake Superior. No doubt a few of the town's names and such have changed, but overall, the map is almost entirely accurate. For graphically outlining the lake, rivers, islands, etc, it is a superb hi-res map. If anywhere, the map would do well in the History section, using the above caption, indicating that the map was published in 1879. -- Gwillhickers (talk) 02:32, 28 October 2019 (UTC)

@Gwillhickers: It's a great map, and I agree it would work well in the history section. Sorry for the revert; should have just moved it. Cheers. Magnolia677 (talk) 12:02, 28 October 2019 (UTC)

@Magnolia677: Thanks for your understanding. To make it even more clear, we can refer to the map as a Historical Map in the caption. I'll see what else I can come up with to make the map fit in with the History section. While we're at it, it seems the article has more than its fair share of images, often times crowding the text and overall layout, so I'm a little reluctant to just stick the map in without doing some minor rearranging of the images. I'll not delete any of the images, but I do see a couple that wouldn't hurt to have removed. I'll see what I can do without rocking the boat. ' Best -- Gwillhickers (talk) 20:35, 28 October 2019 (UTC)

Terrestrial influence?

According to the article, "the lake boasts a very small ratio (1.55) of catchment area to surface area, which indicates minimal terrestrial influence." What does "terrestrial influence" mean? We don't have an article on it, Google doesn't define it, and the cited paper is too technical for the general reader (me) to understand. If this is something important enough to mention (and it may well be), we need to better define what we're talking about. Chuntuk (talk) 08:34, 24 April 2024 (UTC)

Native name in infobox

@Magnolia677 I noticed you reverted this edit by @SargassoShearwater several times. What is the reason for doing so? In my view it would be appropriate to list native names for the great lakes, especially as it is listed and referenced in the article. 📎 JackFromWisconsin (talk | contribs) 17:51, 11 July 2026 (UTC)

If you look at my edit summaries, the first revert was because this editor added the Indian name to the wrong infobox parameter; the second revert was because their edit was unsourced. Magnolia677 (talk) 17:56, 11 July 2026 (UTC)

It is sourced in the article, though:

"The Ojibwe name for the lake is gichi-gami (in syllabics: ᑭᒋᑲᒥ, pronounced gitchi-gami or kitchi-gami in different dialects),"

It was my understanding that content in the lead and/or infobox did not need an additional citation if such material was cited in the body. Am I wrong in this understanding?

📎 JackFromWisconsin (talk | contribs) 18:04, 11 July 2026 (UTC)

I self reverted. Thank you. Magnolia677 (talk) 18:32, 11 July 2026 (UTC)

References