What's in a name?

        After a recent posting about the pre-historic glacial gift of rocks the genesis of Sinai's name came to mind. Early white settlers were walking by Lake Sinai after a prairie fire. The west shore of Lake Sinai is extremely rocky. One of those settles exclaimed "This is as rocky as Mt. Sinai." Thus, the name stuck and the lake has been called Lake Sinai ever since.

       In the 1880s when a congregation was founded it was called Lake Sinai Lutheran. A church was built about a mile south of the Lake and was used until 1950. The cemetery where Joanne is buried is where the church stood.  In 1907 when the railroad was laid, which ran from Sioux Falls to Watertown, it was a half mile east of the church. A town was platted and took the name 'Sinai'. In 1950 a church was built in Sinai and the one in the cemetery eas dismantled. 

      So Sinai's name is result of a gracier. Locally Sinai is pronounced 'Siinyii' ( first I is long) which is quite similar to the Norwegian pronunciation. When stories of Mt. Sinai are read here in church, the dilemma is which pronunciation to use: the traditional Biblical or the local varient. 

Takk for alt,

Al

PS Another day, another load of rocks. 😃

                  The Richtstag, Berlin, Germany.