Wisconsin magazine of history: Volume 31, number 4, June 1948

              koshkonong a misunderstood place name by frederic g cassidy the name " koshkonong " is applied to a sizable lake formed by a spread in the rock river to a creek flowing into this lake to a large prairie in southeastern dane county and to several smaller features near-by the prairie itself is well known as the site of an early successful norwegian settlement settlers who went farther north and west harked back for many years to " kaskeland their half humorous adaptation from " kosh konong with the added word land so common in norwegian place-names and before the time of white settlement the lake was known as an important rendezvous for the winnebago and other indians of the rock river valley considering all this it is rather surprising that there is so much uncertainty about the origin and meaning of this name several guesses have been made — some of which are amusingly fantastic — and one explanation has gained considerable currency but nobody appears to have gone into the matter in more than a passing way the explanation offered here may not put an end to all questions but it does rest on a fuller examination of the evidence and should at least serve to clear away former inacceptable explanations former explanations previous attempts have been mostly of the type in which some body having noticed a similarity between koshkonong and dr frederic g cassidy a member of the english department faculty university of wisconsin contributed his excellent study the naming of the four lakes to the september 1945 magazine the present article had its beginnings in the preparation of his recently published volume the place-names of dane county wisconsin " koshkonong " will bring something new to the readers and impress them with the fine scholarship exhibited in its preparation 429