Tama County Republican. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1867-1872, 1871-12-21
INDIAN NAMES.


In some instances 1t IS special
matter that the Indian names OF
places and States no longer suggest
their original meaning. This was oc-
casionally simple enough, as in Con-
necticutt-orginally written Quo,
naughticot--which mean, in the Mo
began dialect '.Iong river and in
Massachusetts-in the Natick dialect
Masasuset-signifying "the place of
great hills" with reference to the
Blue Hills, eleven miles to the south.
west of Boston, the highest point of
land IN the eartern part of the State.
0! cities thus designated Milwaukee
recalls its original name, meaning
"r,ch lands" and Sing Sing, the Al
gonqain word Asinsing, "a place of
stones" with all the greater force,
and is now "lhe residence OF gentle.
men, in Artemus Wards language,
"who spend their days in poundin'
stun" Other names, however, have
more or lass picturcsqueness in their
meaning, are not so easily improved
by recent changes. Thus Chicago
represents in its French pronuncia-
ton very fairly the actua! sounds
heard by the first French explorers,
when the Potawatamies, who dwelt
there, called it Shecaugo, 'p:ayfal
waters" tD Dahlonega is the soft
ened form Of the Talauneca 0. the
Cherokees, which meant "yellow
metal" for the In.-ians were we'll
aware of the gold found in the neigh
borhood, which made the city IN later
years the seat Of a Government mint,
because OF its happy position in the
very center of the gold nine district
OF n Northern Georgia. Lake Erie Is
almost the only reminder now of the
once powerful tribe OF Eries, who
lived where the State Of Ohio now is,
the latter name, as given to :he river
owes its origin to the Iroouois, who
called it the Oheo, 'beautitul water"
by the same instructive admiration
which prompted the French to name
La Belle Kiviere. 1t had lucky
escape from Marquette's baptism.
who christened it Ouaboukigon-a
name which subsequently shrunk in.
to Ouabache, and has finally, as Wa
bash, been gwen to the last tribu-
tary OF the Ohio. It is curious that
a kinl Of stigma seems to adhere to
to the name, tor even now the poe
pie OF Indiana and the West general
ly are fond OF saying OF man who
has been cheated, that 'he has been
Wabashed.r At one time, when the
"dark and bloody ground" of Ken.
lucky and Ohio became famous
am ong the whites, the Indians also
felt inclined to call their beautiful
river rather the Blood River, so fear
tul had been the scenes of carnage and
cruelty enacted on its fair banks.
One OF the youngest states, Idaho,
the .gem of the mountains" and the
name of the river Monongaheia flows
as smooth from the lips with It's liquid
notes as the far famed whiskey distill-
ed on its banks, which is known all
over the Union by the same term, in
contradistinction from Scotch and
Irish rivals. On the other hand, the
much-discussed name OF the greatest
waterfall on our continent has been
stripped of all the poetical meaning
given it by writer's whose Imagination
exceeded their knowledge. Neagera
the original word, taken from the
Seneca-Iroquois dialect, has no con-
nectlon with cataract, but means,
prosaically, 'acress the neck. alluding
10 the course of the river across the
neck or strip OF land tha; lies between
Lakes Erie and Ontario. A similar
idea underlies the word Mitchikan in
the Ottawa dialect, which was orig
inally given to Mackinac, and mean,
fences" as if the island was lying
fence like before the Upper Lake.
At least, SO says Rev. Mr.. Pierz, a
missionary among the Ottawas; but
Allouez, his French predecessor,
calls it, a few years before Machihiga-
nings; the present word, Michigan, is
evidently an Improvement upon both
the former names.-4AMerican,sn By
Rer. Sehelc De Tere, L. L. D.