Show MEANING OF INDIAN NAMES IN THE UNITED STATES Washington Star The commission appointed by the government to translate into concise correct English all aU Indian names found In the geography of the United States has on its hands a job of great geat mag magnitude magnitude magnitude as may ma be comprehended when it is considered that tat more than names now fixed to various points point be between between tween Maine and California and the Canadian nadian C line lne and the Rio Grande commemorate the fact that the red redman redman redman man was once the te sole possessor of the theland theland land lard The names of his chiefs and of his tribes are forever fixed in memory Indian traditions are perpetuated and musical musical Indian words have been incorporated i into our tongue tonge a legacy of or poetry petry and romance even in this practical practical age Every name the Indian gave gaye meant something He left to his 1 brother the absurdities of prefixing to 2700 towns and settlements the stale descriptive terms east west north south sout he left to the white man the confusion of in one union not a fifth of which were ever eyer built buit in a field feld or by b a spring of without a pine without an oak and ad Ply Plymouths Plymouths mouths that are not at the mouth of the tle Wey the te Plym PI m or any other river or MoUnt Mo nt Vernons strong many of them without even a hill hil to their credit and arid of 1100 New Havens New Yorks and Newe er all al of which have long since ceased to be new newt t Not so 50 with the Indian He pitched his wigwam beside a stream Through the curling waters the te long dark stone on the rivers bed looked like otters at play and forthwith the camp ing place received the name it i bears today todar Kalamazoo I in the Indian tongue Again he saw on a river bank a pine tree wreathed in flames fames for hours it i threw its is torch like glare over oYer the landscape as would have lune beamed the glow of some council counci fire fre fed by attendant warriors and Po that region became a literal translation of which is the place of the burning pine that resembles a ace council ce fire fre Poughkeepsie is ua a safe harbor for small smal boats Norridge Norridgewock the place of deer Ontario the village on the mountain Sara Saranac Saranac nac tine the Uthe river that flows under rock and Saratoga the place of the mirac miraculous miraculous miraculous ulous waters in a rock Similarly is the river valley vaney beyond the pine trees Scho Schoharie harie Imrie is the tributary that throws its is waters strong over ovar oval sand vand and across the main stream the Wabash is a cloud blown forward by an equinoctial wind M Monongahela mon hela Is the Uthe bank river Rappahannock the riv nv river river nver er of water and Toronto oak trees rising from the lake Such words show a wondrous skill ski in the theart theart I art alt of word painting and their ex cx expressive expressive Indian tongue ngue reflects their i Impressions impress ions with a vivid minuteness impossible to o more cumbersome En English English I glish 0 S There is tip commonplace in Indian j names nam s All AI of f the Indians terms are ar j qu because l e alJa l e and nd full Io of I i 1 meaning to him A thousand examples be given Once before the white mans day a of a river bank revealed the te huge fossile fossie tusk of some some prehistoric prehistoriC monster At once the te river received the name of Chemung Big BigHorn BigHorn Horn and generations of squaws told to i generations of papooses the te traditions traditions of bones and wide tons the te big jaws that once had been found there In 1865 a portion porton of Maine was wa visited by bya a most devastating fire fre The Indians at once gave the region the name of regon Schoodic the great gret burnt lands per perpetuating perpetuating forever the memory of the terrible disaster Orinoco is coiling snake possibly a reference to the course cours of the stream but more probably marking the te notable killing of reptile some venomous 1 Sometimes it was w the physical fea features features tures teres that were Thus Wetumpka is tumbling waters San Sandusky Sandusky dusky dusk the cold spring the highest highet place Tioga the swift current curent Niagara the neck of water vater Nahant is at the point Is much clear water and Chautauqua Chautauqua is the foggy place Sometimes the Indians names reflected his superstitions Thus Titus Manito Is spirit Montauk is a manito or spirit tree and means the te devils lake Sometimes his names celebrate his hunting or fishing exploits Mackinaw is an abbreviation of a longer loner word meaning the great geat turtle place Quinsigamond means mens the fishing place for pickerel There are several Ammons which as the government gov has a peculiar penchant for lopping off of the tho terminative sylla syllables syla bles bios of Indian words may not unreasonable unreasonable unreasonable be taken to represent Am an expressive Indian word meaning river a proof positive that the red man as a well wel as ashi his hi successors was wa given to telling teUng tall stories about his luck in fishing shing |