Location
Winona is in Winona County Established February 23, 1854, this county was named for a Dakota woman, Winona, cousin of the last chief named Wabasha, both of whom were prominent in the events attending the removal in 1848 of the Winnebago Indians from Iowa to Wabasha's Prairie (the site of the city of Winona) and thence to Long Prairie in Todd County. This name belonged, said Prof. A. W. Williamson, in any Dakota family, to the "first born, if a daughter, diminutive of wino, woman"; and similarly the name of the "first born child, if a son," was Chaska. In pronunciation, Winona is accented on the middle syllable, and the first and last syllables have the short vowel sounds. The first, however, is often incorrectly given the long sound, as in wine; it should be short, as in win, or may be quite rightly given the sound of long e, as we. Hear it pronounced in Dakota. From: Upham, Warren. Minnesota Place Names: A Geographical Encyclopedia. St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press, First edition 1920. Third Edition 2001. Print.
