The Dakota name for this beautiful lake is We-ne-a-tan-ka—Broad Water. By dropping the "a" before "tanka" we have changed the name to Big Water.
Spirit-Knob was a small hill upon a point in the lake in full view from Wayzata. It is now washed away by the waves. The spirit of a Dakota mother, whose only child was drowned in the lake during a storm many years ago, often wailed at midnight (so the Dakotas said), on this hill. So they called it Wa-na-gee Pa-zo-dan—Spirit-Knob. (Literally—little hill of the spirit.)
The Welsh name for the robin.