Location
Chaska is in Carver County CHASKA Township and city, the county seat, has, unlike the preceding name, the French sound of ch like sh. This was the name generally given in a Dakota family to the first-born child if a son, as Winona was the general name of a first-born daughter. This word is pronounced by the Dakota, and by Rev. Stephen R. Riggs's dictionary, with the English sound of ch (as in charm), and with the long vowel sound in the last syllable, as if spelled kay, but common usage of the white people has given erroneously the French pronunciation (ch as in charade), with the last syllable short, like Alaska. Hear pronounced. From: Upham, Warren. Minnesota Place Names: A Geographical Encyclopedia. St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press, First edition 1920. Third Edition 2001. Print.
