The origin of the word Algoma is not entirely clear; the following are definitions culled from several different sources In the term Gitchegomee, the name for Superior, we have a specimen of their mode of making compounds.
Gomee is itself a compound phrase, denoting, when so conjoined, a large body of water.
Under the government of the term gitchee, it appears to express simply the sense of great water, but conveys the idea, to the Indian mind, of sea-water.
A more practical word, in the shape of a new compound, may be made in Algoma, a term in which the first syllable of the generic name of this tribe of the Algonquin stock, harmonizes very well with the Indian idea of goma (sea), giving us, Sea of the Algonquins.
The term may be objected to, as the result of a grammatical abbreviation, but if not adopted practically, it may do as a poetical synonym for this great lake.