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"Mackinac" Doesn't Sound the Way it Looks. Grand Hotel is on Mackinac Island. And Mackinac is pronounced "MACK-in-awe." Early native-American settlers called the island Michinnimakinong, or "land of the great turtle" because the island resembled a turtle rising up from the straits. At the end of the 17th century, the French arrived via Michigan's upper peninsula and subsequently replaced the "n" sound with an "l" sound, and the "ch" sound with the softer "sh." Though the French pronounced the ending "-aw," it was spelled "-ac" (in French, many final consonants are silent). The word was, over time, shortened to "Mackinac." The British, who came from Michigan's lower peninsula and fought the French in the French & Indian War, heard the term pronounced "-aw" and proceeded to spell it the way they heard it. Thus the spelling of Mackinaw City, the northernmost town on Michigan's lower peninsula. Mackinac Island. Mackinaw City. Both pronounced "-aw." |