For some people, the word lagoon conjures images of Venetian romance. For horror movie lovers, the mind instantly races to the 1954 film, The Creature from the Black Lagoon. While these 2 thoughts could not differ more, they both involve these hard to distinguish bodies of water. Getting away from using the same criteria that people use for art (i.e. “I know it when I see it”), what exactly is a lagoon and what separates it from, say, a lake or a pond?
By definition, a lagoon is simply a comparatively shallow body of water that has been cut off from another, larger body of water by a sandbar, coral reef, or other feature. In many aspects though, any further definition of what constitutes a lagoon is based on what authority you ask. For example, there are differing opinions based on proximity to the coast as well as the water composition (freshwater or saltwater). Beyond constitution, lagoons are classified as one of three different types. There are atoll lagoons, which are Pacific Island-type, coral-based lagoons. River-mouth lagoons, which occur on mixed sand and gravel beaches and are common in New Zealand. And coastal lagoons, which form along gently sloping coasts and provide the ideal setting for the aforementioned Venetian romance and monster movies.
In origin, our word lagoon comes from the Latin lacuna, meaning pond or hole, and arrives to us from the Italian laguna. Unsurprisingly, considering the proximity to its origin, the first use of the word was strictly in a Venetian context – Thomas Birch’s The Court and Times of James the First (1612) states that, “He was observed that day to row to and fro in the lagoon towards [the Venetian island of] Murano, to see what show his house made.” Though the first mention of the atoll-type of lagoon appeared in 1769, in the Journals of Captain James Cook, the first overall non-Venetian lagoon reference comes from William Dampier’s A New Voyage Round the World in 1697, where he recounts an experience in Mexico, stating, “They went into a Lagoon, or Lake of Salt-water… The mouth of this Lagoon is not Pistol-shot wide.” Thankfully, in none of the notable usages of the word, are there references to killer movie monsters.
