Tenas Lake (the one not exactly named from Jargon)

[David Robertson]

In the Kaska Tribal Council's excellent 2-volume "Guzagi K'uge'" noun 
dictionary, I noticed the explanation of the name of Tenas Lake. This lake 
(which most people call Olgie Lake in English) lies at 132:30 west, 62:05 
north, in the Yukon Territory.  That's north of the core Jargon usage area, 
but think about what follows.  

The name Tenas Lake is explained by one Native consultant as being a Kaska 
person's attempt to say (in English) "the nice lake".  

However, the Kaska (Athabaskan) name is similar, Du Nestlon (with several 
diacritic marks), which means "lots of islands".  

And I wonder if some newcomer reinterpreted the local Native name as being 
Chinook Jargon?  Sometimes odd things like this happen.  Hmm?  

--Dave R

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