ORIGIN OF THE WORD CHICAGO[9]
Menomini
[9] Schoolcraft gives the origin of the word Chicago, as follows:
Chi-cag The animal of the leek or wild onion.
Chi-cag-o-wunz The wild leek or pole-cat plant.
Chi-ca-go Place of the wild leek.
It would really seem, from the myths and the origin of the word, as given above, that the name originated from the great amount of skunk weed on the marshes now covered by the city.
POTAWATOMI Indians used to live in the marshes where Chicago now stands. They sent out word to the other tribes that hunting was good. Then the Menomini Indians went to the marshes for game. In the night their dogs barked much. But when the Menomini Indians reached the spot where the dogs barked, they found only skunks.