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National Geographic : 1920 Aug
Contents
THE ORIGIN OF AMERICAN STATE NAMES cause the tribe of this name showed con siderable proclivities for wandering. Our greatest river, the Mississippi, gives name to one of our Southern States. The Indian word means "Gathering in of All the Waters" or "Great Long River," which have been interpreted by some to mean "Father of Waters," al though this is not a technically correct translation. The Indian term for this stream would seem to indicate that the aborigines had a fair conception of its great size. Texas, our largest Commonwealth and the only one acquired by annexation, has for a name an Indian word which origi nally meant "Friends" or "Allies" and which was also used as a form of greet ing. Later it came to indicate a group of tribes generally allied against the Apaches of Arizona. The term grad ually came to include tribes from regions as far apart as the Red River of Arkan sas and the Rio Grande. The name was introduced by the early Spanish ex plorers, from whom later French and English settlers received it. MEANINGS OF TENNESSEE AND KENTUCKY ARE OBSCURE Like many other States, Tennessee is named for its principal river, although this name was originally given to one of its southerly tributaries and later spread to the main stream. The name is of Cherokee origin and came from a village or locality, Tanasse, inhabited by this great southern tribe. The meaning of the word has been lost, and interpreta tions, such as "Bend in the River," from the meanderings of the stream, are merely fanciful. The Blue Grass State, Kentucky, also bears a name of uncertain origin and meaning. Reliable authorities state that the name was derived from an Indian word, "Kentake," meaning "Meadow Land." On the other hand, General George Rogers Clark, one of our greatest pioneers and one of the conquerors of this region, claimed that the word "Ken tuke," meaning "River of Blood," gave the State its name. It has also been said that the word is of Shawnee Indian ori gin and means "At the head of a river," from the fact that this tribe used the Kentucky River in its migrations north and south. The popular translation of "Dark and Bloody Ground" was given to Daniel Boone, the famous borderer of the early days of the State, by an intelli gent Indian chief of his day, and the title is supposed to have been descriptive of the bloody warfare in colonial times, not only between the Indians and the whites, but also between the Indians from both sides of the Ohio River, who used this region as a battle-ground. The Buckeye State, Ohio, takes its name from its principal river, which bore a long Iroquois Indian name meaning "Beautiful River." Illinois is named for the Illini tribe of Indians, who lived in that section and whose name meant "Men," and to which the French added their adjective termi nation, "ois." INDIANS OFTEN USED NAMES OF RIVERS AND LAKES The name of another Indian tribe, Ah hee-oo-ba, is perpetuated in Iowa. The name meant "Sleepy Ones" or "Drowsy Ones," and this probably goes far to ward explaining why this tribe was nearly exterminated by the Sioux. Its members lived in the valley of the State's principal river, to which they gave their name and after which, in turn, the State was named. The Indian's penchant for naming places after bodies of water is further illustrated in the name of Michigan, which comes from an Algonquin word. "Mishigamaw," meaning "Big Lake" or "Great Water," and called, of course, after the great lake of that name. Now we come to ancther State name the origin and meaning of which are un certain. Wisconsin, written by the early French explorers of that region as "Ouisconsin" and named for its chief stream, is thought to have come from a Sak Indian word translated as "Wild Rushing Channel" and also as having reference to holes in the banks of streams where birds nest. However, neither of these interpretations can be confirmed. Another river-named State is Minne sota, derived from a Sioux Indian word meaning "Cloudy Water" or "Sky-tinted Water." 129
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