Orthography varies on the original Potawatomi
name for Chicagoland; common variants for the form from which the
city derives its present-day name include Eschikagou and Checaugou.
The translation or implied significance of this word also runs a gamut:
"skunk cabbage", "garlic", "great/great one".
One of the most common translations, and arguably the most compelling,
is "wild onion" or "wild onions".
Related to lilies, wild onions grow in "loose moist soil"
and have a ritual significance to many Native American peoples (see:
cherokee.org). The "onions" described by early missionaries
in the Chicago area might have been leeks, meadow garlic, or nodding
onions; so common was the latter that it "tinged [the landscape]
with pink… in midsummer"(see: Forest Preserve of Cook County,
Nature Bulletin #184). These varieties of hardy, savory vegetation
make a worthy landscape mascot for the Chicago region today. Used
in both culinary and medicinal recipes, they invoke the untamed richness
of the wilderness, and the strength, perseverance, and character of
its inhabitants.
