Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnehaha, Minnetonka, Minnewaska, Minneota. Those are just some of the place names in "the Land of 10,000 Lakes" featuring "minne" as the first five letters.

The words all have one thing in common: the Dakota word "mni," according to C̣aƞtemaza Neil McKay, an expert in the Dakhóta language at the University of Minnesota.

"So 'mni' is 'water.' 'Sota' means 'clear,' like when you look at water and you can see through it, it's clear," C̣aƞtemaza said. "Dr. Charles Alexander Eastman ... a Dakota scholar in the 1800s, he translated Minnesota as 'the land where the waters reflects,' reflect the skies or the heavens, because this land is very beautiful."

C̣aƞtemaza says Minneapolis means "water city." As for Minnetonka's origins?

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