"Foreign" Words, Five

[place names we latecomers simply took over . . . Mississippi (Chippewa Indian mici sibi "big river").]

       Which brings me to my almost home town (I stole it for purposes of the opening paragraph of this essay, but I'm really from St. Paul, the proverbial enemy across the "big river"); I speak of our Twin City, Minneapolis.  That is the town I realized in my adult years has yoked in its one name two entirely different peoples.  For though the place is aptly described and parsed as "city of lakes," Minneapolis owes its identity to two diverse languages:  minne "waters" (American Indian) and polis "city" (Greek).  You say "Minneapolis," you speak with "forked" tongue.