The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1879-11-13
WHAT "CHICAGo. MEANS.
III "tymology and Original Signifcationo
the Word,

81. ~tymolosy and Original Signifcation' o
the Word.
Mr.. W. q. Wells writes to the Chi
cago Tribune as follows:
an preparing an article on Chicago.
I had occasion recently to investigate
the original signifcation and use of the
word Chicago. We have had more
than a score of lectures and historical
sketches, in which the origin of this
word has been given, with quotations
from various authorities; but I found
the discrepancies in these different
statements so great that it was not easy
to decide on the real meaning of the
original word without looking beyond
them. After comparing the various
opinions, and many others, I wrote to
DR.. J. Hammond Trumbull, of Hart
ford, Ct., who is the highest authority
in the country on all questions relating
to the Indian tongues. His statement
in regard to the genealogical derivation
of the word Chicago leaves no further
question on that point. He writes as
follows:
"'The meaning of the name Chicago
is not doubtful. @Chicagou'-as the
French wrote the name-signifes @Ths
Skunk" and cannot be made to signify
anything else.. It has-with slight
notifications of local dialects this
meaning in all Indian languages of that
region.
"'As the name comes to us through
the French, the first syllable indicates
the French pronunciation of the Indian
name. DR.. James, in note to STAN
ner's Narrative" 1880, observes that
the common Indian pronunciation is
3Shig-gau-go," and with the locative in
fection @Shiggaugo-ong, at Chicago" !"
Inthe same dialect - Chippeway- james
writes, @Shegahg," skunk; @Shiggauga-
winje, onion, j. e., skunk-weed." Bishop
Baraga, in his excellent @Otchipwe Die
ionary," has @Jikag." French En-
gish zh] polecat, fitchat, ftchew, and
notes: From this word is derived the
name of the city of Chicago" For
garlic or wild onion, he gives Jigagga-
wanj, and kitch-jigaga.wanj Ibig skunk
weed or the garden onion.
"s Chicagou, as the French name for
the river, may be traced back at least to
1879. (See " Chicago from 1878 to 1725, -
by Dr.. J. G. Shea, in the Historical
Magazine, W, 99-104.) The French
learned it from the Miamis, the nearly
related Weas, or the Illinois. Chica-
goua,' who went TO France, with other
Indians, in 1725, is called Chief Of the
Illinois (Shea's Charlevoix," vi, 76,
note). In the Illinois language Chica-
goua, as Father Gravier wrote it, is the
equivalent of the Chippeway Jikag
of Baraga, "bete puante."
"sI infer that the appellation of q
chief or brave" The Skunk /" = was
transferred by the French to the river,
and passed from the river to the locality
when a French post was established
| there.
"The Rev. James Evans, a Wes-
leyan missionary to the Chippeways and
Greeks of Canada, and master Of both
languages, in his Chippeway Spellel
and Interpreter" printed in 1887, gives
the same words (though in different
notation) for "skunk" and "onion
leek, skunkweed," that are given by
Edwin James and Baraga, and in foot.
note to "Seguug" [zhegahg] skunk
says: From this the city of Chicago
derives its name.'"
From DR.. Trumbull's g letter Mr.. Wells
draws the following conclusions:
l. The original meaning of the word
Chicago is skunk.
2. In its uses it became synonym
of strong, mighty, great, etc.
8. It was applied to the skunk, to
the wild onion, to line of Indian
chiefs, to the Mississippi river, and to
thunder, or the voice Of the Great
Spirit.
4. The place was called Chicago from
an Indian chief of that name, who, al
some remote period, was drowned in the
river on which Chicago is situated.