The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1882-04-18
NAMES OF STATES.
Their Origin and MISUNDERSTANDING Mean
ings Questioned and Mistakes Corrected
Only One Commonwealth Called for its
Fopnder-Great DISCOVERIES Who
Might Have Been but Are Not
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Only One Commonwealth Called for its
Fognder-Great DISCOVERIES Who
! Might Have Been but Are Not
| Conremorated.
Indiana derives its name from one of
the old ante-Revolutionary land COM
panies which had claims in that region.
The State of Illinois is named from
its principal river, the Illinois. The
river is named from the confederacy of
Indian tribes called the Illinois Confed-
eracy, which had its scat in the central
part of the State. Gallatin gives the
definition of the world Illinois, .real
men" superior men, from the Della
ware word, Leno, Leni, Hin, Illini, as
tits variously written. The termination
OILS is that by which the French softened
the local infiexion when they adopted an
Indian word.
| Lanman, in his Red Book of Michi-
gan," derives the name of that State
from the Indian word Michsaugyegan,
signifying Lake Country. Johnson's
| Cyclopedia derives the name from the
Indian words Mitch, Saugyegan, mean
ing Lake Country. | regard this as
| questionable derivation. There are good
reasons for supposing that the State de-
rived its name from Lake Michigan, and
not from its being nearly enclosed by
| lakes. If the word Michigan. signifies
| piled to the lake at all? In support of the
| theory that the name Michigan was de-
| scriptive, signifying ''great lake." and
was first given to the lake, / call atten-
ton to the fact that on the earliestmaps
| the lake bears the name. while the PENN
| sula, both upper and lower. has no name
| whatever. Besides the name, as applied
| to the lake, has a simple Indian deriva-
ton. The Algonquin races, at the head
of which was the Chippewa tribe, dwelt
on the northwestern shores of the lake.
In the old Algonquin language the syl-
liable ''gan" meant lake. In the Chip
pewa language ''nitcha'' meant great.
Wisconsin was named after its prin-
cipal river. Until quite a recent period
the river was called the Quisconsin,
which is said to mean westward flow
ing" Quis is evidently shortened from
the French ''ouest" Mr. Schoolcraft
says, that "locality was given in the AL
onquin by ing meaning at, in, or by
IS Wiscons-ing." The name is probably
| of mixed origin.
The name of Louisiana, now confined
| to a State of the Union, was originally
given to the entire French possessions
on the west bank of the Mississippi,
! by La Sale, in 1862, in honor of Louis
XIV.
! The State of Arkansas takes its name
| from its principal river; the river from
the tribe of Indians formerly living near
| its mouth. Till quite a recent period
the river was called Arkansas, and the
tribe the Arkansas tribe. Mr.. School
| craft says that both the names Arkansas
and Missouri embrace aboriginal roots,
but we hear the sounds as modified by
French orthoepy and enunciation. The
same author further relates that there is
q species of acacia found in Arkansas,
from which the Indians, on the arrival
| of the French, made for themselves
| bows. 1t is light yellow, solid and flex-
| IDLE. This is thought to have led to
| the appellation of Arc or Bow Indians"
| As they belonged to the Kansa race and
| had lately separated from them, that
term would naturally be adopted by the
French as the generic name. In the
contributors Club" of the Atlantic
| Monthly, May, 1881, in reference to the
name Arkansas, occurs this curious
passage: docs not the name come from
| the arc-en-sane of the early French
| traders, its likeness to Kansas being &C
cidental? Whether the bloody bow was
| n special weapon like the medicine bow,
| that gave its name to n creek, mountain
| range, and railway station in Wyoming,
! or the Bloody Bows were a band like
| the Sans Arcs, cannot now be determ-
| ined.''
The State of Missouri was named from
the river of that name, and the river it
| self from the Missouris, n tribe once liv-
| ing near its mouth, and afterward driv-
en- into the interior. There is another
| theory in respect to the name of the
river, that it is descriptive, Colonel Hig-
ginson, in his Young Folks History
Il 4
| The Dacotahs called the Missouri Min
| neshoshay, muddy water" word
| which might easily become Missouri. In
an article on Indian Migrations, by L.
| II. Morgan, in the North american Re
! UtetU, vol. OK, it is stated as q matter of
tradition that the Kansas Indians were
| formerly established on the banks of the
! Mississippi, above the Missouri, and that
they called the Missouri Ne-sho-ja 1.-The
muddy river" a name in which the
| present name can be traced.
The State of Iowa is named from the
river of that name, and the river from
the Ioway Indians, who, after many
migrations, settled on its banks. In the
| same article in the atlantic Monthly to
which have already alluded, it is init
| mated that the name Ioway is contract
ed from Ah-hee-oo-ba, meaning ''sleep-
ers," which, perhaps, explains why the
Sioux nearly extirpated them.
The State of Texas, formerly Spanish
| territory, then Mexican, and later an in
dependent State, is the only State &C
CURED by annexation. There is con-
! flict of opinion as to the origin of its
name Johnson's Cyclopedia, article
| Texas, states that sit is now proved con-
! clusively to be of Indian derivation, the
| generic title of numerous tribes known
| to La Sale on his visit In 1885, On
Scales map, 1850, the center of the ter
ritory is occupied by Indians called the
Tecas, which may be the generic title
referred to. But MIR. Bryant, in his
History of the United States" vol. IL,
page 518, note, says: cit is supposed
that the name Texas is from the Spanish
| TEXAS, in allusion to the covered houses
found by La Sale on his visit in 1886.
In Morphis' History OF Texas" the
name is given as of doubtful origin. He
states in substance that some refer the
name to the capital village of the Mas
sonite tribe, others refer it to the Spanish
word ''teger," to weave, in reference to
placing the grass over the cottages;
others derive it from ''tejas." meaning
/ 'scobwebs,' the account being that the
| Spaniards encamped in an expedition
into the country, and one morning the
commander seeing many spider webs
between himself and the rising sun ex-
claimed mira las tejasp' and named the