English Explanatory Dictionary

Turtle Island

English dictionary entry

Meanings

name
  1. North America.
  2. The Earth.

Word forms

Turtle Island

Etymology

From turtle + island, based on the role of a turtle's back acting as the base for the world while being surrounded by water in the creation stories of multiple tribes of the Northeastern Woodlands region of North America as well as Algonquian- and Iroquoian-speaking peoples. Specific groups with such myths include the Lenape people, the Haudenosaunee, the Ojibwe people, and the Cree.

Derived words

Turtle Islander
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