Etymology

Laurentia

Lau·ren·tia
L1A1U1R1E1N1T1I1A1

Today it means: The craton that forms the geological core of North America, and that was a separate continent in the past (before merging into Laurasia). Full definition →

French laurentien
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The story

  1. French · derived fromlaurentien
  2. English todayLaurentia

A New Latin formation named after the Saint Lawrence River: Laurentius (“Lawrence”) + -ia (New Latin suffix for creating place names). Or, back-formed from Laurentian (from French laurentien), already in use to describe the Laurentian Mountains and their associated geologic complex (and by extension Canada as a whole).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.