Chautauqua is a place in the US state of New York, by a lake of the same name, where many people go in summer for special arts events: music, plays, talks, and classes. The institution there became famous for mixing holiday air with lectures and performances. Because of that place, English also borrowed the word for similar summer gatherings in other towns — tent talks and traveling shows that copied the idea. This entry is the New York place itself. The name is not an English word in origin. It comes from the Erie language, though the original Erie term is not clearly known, so it is better not to pretend we can translate it piece by piece. We write it with a capital C. The usual English saying is roughly “shuh-TAW-kwa.”