page_title: Name of Canada
section_title: Etymology
hierarchical_section_title: Name of Canada / Etymology
caption_attribution_description: English: Canada Postage stamp, issue of 1934, 3¢. On the 1st July, 1934, a special 3-cent stamp commemorated the four-hundredth anniversary of the discovery of Canada by the French navigator, Jacques Cartier. (From: Patrick, Douglas and Mary Patrick. Canada's Postage Stamps. Toronto, McClelland and Stewart Limited, 1964, p. 68.) [1] Designed by the British American Bank Note Company, Design adapted from company vignette (ca. 1870) previously used on bank notes and certificates. [2]
context_page_description: The name of Canada has been in use since the founding of the French colony of Canada in the 16th century. The name originates from a Saint-Lawrence Iroquoian word kanata for "settlement", "village", or "land". It is pronounced in English and in standard Quebec French. In Inuktitut, one of the official languages of the territory of Nunavut, the Iroquoian word is used, with the Inuktitut syllabics ᑲᓇᑕ.
  The first French colony of Canada, which formed one of several colonies within New France, was set up along the Saint Lawrence River and the northern shores of the Great Lakes. Later the area became two British colonies, called Upper Canada and Lower Canada until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841. Upon Confederation in 1867, the name Canada was officially adopted for the new Dominion of Canada.
context_section_description: The name Canada is now generally accepted as originating from the St. Lawrence Iroquoian word kanata ([kana:taʔ]), meaning "village" or  "settlement". Related translations include "land" or "town", with subsequent terminologies meaning "cluster of dwellings" or "collection of huts". This explanation is historically documented in Jacques Cartier's Bref récit et succincte narration de la navigation faite en MDXXXV et MDXXXVI.
  Although the Laurentian language, which was spoken by the inhabitants of St. Lawrence Valley settlements such as Stadacona (modern-day Quebec City) and Hochelaga (modern-day Montreal) in the 16th century, is now extinct, it was closely related to other dialects of the Iroquoian languages, such as the Oneida and Mohawk languages. Related cognates meaning "town" include nekantaa, ganataje and iennekanandaa in the Mohawk, Onondaga and Seneca languages respectively. Prior to archeological confirmation that the St. Lawrence Iroquois were a separate people from the Mohawk, most sources specifically linked the name's origin to the Mohawk word instead of the Laurentian one.
  A widespread perception in Canadian folklore is that Cartier misunderstood the term "Canada" as the existing proper name of the Iroquois people's entire territory rather than the generic class noun for a town or village — for instance, the Historica Foundation of Canada's Heritage Minute film devoted to Cartier's landing at Hochelaga is scripted as having Cartier believe that "Kanata" or "Canada" was the established name of the entire country. This is not supported by Cartier's own writings, however — in Bref récit, Cartier fully understands the actual meaning of the word ("They call a town Canada"), and his earliest name for the wider territory is "le pays des Canadas" ("country of Canadas", "land of Canadas" or "land of villages").
  While the Saint-Lawrence Iroquoian origin for the name Canada is now widely accepted, other theories have been put forth in the past.
caption: A 1934 three-cent stamp commemorated the four-hundredth anniversary of the discovery of Canada by the French navigator, Jacques Cartier.
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