The article How the tiny fishing village of Pugwash tried to stop a nuclear war caught my attention, because of the interesting name “Pugwash.” Pugwash, is a strange word to become synonymous with peace and nuclear disarmament, so let’s dive into where it comes from.
Wait, Peace and Nuclear Disarmament?
Yes, Pugwash was home to the 1957 founding Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs, who’s vision is “A world free of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction and of war, in which science advances peace, security, and human dignity.” This happened because Cyrus Eaton, a wealthy financier born in Pugwash, heard that a group of scientists and philosophers were looking for somewhere to meet to discuss the perils of atomic weapons and offered to pay for the conference to meet at his Pineo Lodge (later renamed Thinker’s Lodge) in Pugwash.
So about the name Pugwash
According to the town’s website “The name “Pugwash” is derived from the Mi’kmaq word Pakwesk or Pagwe’ak, meaning “shallow water,” referencing the shoals near the harbour’s mouth.” Wikipedia suggests that Pagwesk actually means “shoal,” but the Mi’gmaq/Mi’kmaq Online Talking Dictionary says that pagwe’jg, which sounds a lot like it could have turned into “Pugwash” in the ears and mouths of anglophone or francophone settlers, means “shallow water,” so I am choosing to believe that Pugwash is derived from the Mi’kmaq term for shallow water, which refers to the shoals at the harbour’s mouth, as the town’s website says.