[Ads-l] "Turtle Island" (January 1972)

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Here are two citations from a few days earlier with the desired sense
for "Great Turtle Island" and "Turtle Island".

Date: January 9, 1972
Newspaper: Syracuse Herald American
Newspaper Location: Syracuse, New York
Article: Honors Indians - Lyons designs print for bank
Author: Richard G. Case
Quote Page 43, Column 2
Database: Newspapers.com
https://www.newspapers.com/article/syracuse-herald-journal-turtle/190307973/

[Begin excerpt]
The historic scene painted by Lyons shows foundation of the Great
League, or Iroquois Confederacy. hundreds of years ago at Onondaga.
...
Behind them Is the Great Tree of Peace, growing from the Great Turtle
Island, symbolizing the North American continent.
...
The Hou-du-no-shaun-ee, the People of the Long House say formation of
the confederation occurred hundreds of years before the first white
man set foot on the Great Turtle Island.
[End excerpt]

Date: January 9, 1972
Newspaper: The Birmingham News
Newspaper Location: Birmingham, Alabama
Article: Mohawk Indians tell students of heritage before white man
Author: Garland Reeves (News staff writer)
Quote Page 31A, Column 3 and 4
Database: Newspapers.com
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-birmingham-news-turtle/190308604/

[Begin excerpt]
THEY WERE Mohawk Indians from Akwesasne in Northern New York state,
showing University of Alabama in Birmingham and others the Round
Dance, part of the Indian heritage handed down through the generations
since this continent was called Turtle Island.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Sat, Jan 31, 2026 at 4:11 PM dave at wilton.net <dave at wilton.net> wrote:
>
>
> As a name for North America. The OED has July 1972, in a NYT article also by Gary Snyder.
>
> Snyder, Gary. “Energy Is Eternal Delight.” New York Times, 12 January 1972, 43/5–6. ProQuest Newspapers.
>
> "On Hopi and Navajo land, at Black Mesa, the whole issue is revolving at this moment. The cancer is eating away at the breast of Mother Earth in the form of stripmining. This to provide electricity for Los Angeles. The defense of Black Mesa is being sustained by traditional Indians, young Indian militants and longhairs. Black Mesa speaks to us through an ancient complex web of myth. She is sacred territory. To hear her voice is to give up the European word 'America' and accept the new-old name for the continent, 'Turtle Island.'"
>
> There are older uses in reference to Indigenous myths that use the term to denote the world, the abode of people.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org