The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1885-06-04
POETIC INDIAN NAMES.
The ThaukIess Task Performed by the
Iconoclast-Literal Translation.

Il is not that the savage of old times
has changed We are only coming to
know him better. Chingachgook and
I meas and lliawatha and Powhatan,
AMI all the rest of them, were the same
as their descendants ani representatives
Of to-day, only we look at tnem afar of,
through the cloudy, softenng atmos.
phcrc OF ii ton auG of history which Is
but little hetter than teton The noble
red man of to-day eats gra shoppers AMI
seldom batheS, and there is good rea, ,ou
10 believe that Red ia 'kctt and King
Philip We're not inSCnsble to the attra"-
tlOn, 0 roast dog Us an article of diet
The poetry with which the race has been
invested docs not pertain 10 them it
had It's origin and end in the Imagination
of those who have rhapoDdi el concern
ing them, and the true, original savaS &C
was ever AMI remains a h.aLhen an
nothing mOre-until he Is civil e l.
IN no particular, per APPS, is this fact
made palmer than in respect OF the
names which these hcathens conferred
upon themselves. and have imposed
upon the places where they once dwelt,
but which now happily know thcm no
more. First, as regards their own
names. When We find that the m,l-
lltluent, magnlIoIuent and pDllysyilabic
Titles OF to-day are tran Siatablc into
such nlcknames as Scar Faced Charley
Hole i'll His Blanket, Sh4ckndoJy jim,
Young Man Afraid o. His Mother.in-
Law, One Kyei Iltchsnake and Old
Man Who Wont Pay Ills Debts, what
81 !. 10 -
the claim that corresponding titles in
ancient times meant Eayle Eye, Heart
of-Stone, The Great Warrior, swift
Arrow, Boss in HiS-Dwn " igwam, or
other such condensed expressions of the
recognition of savage hero.c attributes
1t is no letter when We look into the
origin and derivation OF names of rivers
and places asSing by such unpro-
nOuncea 10 and outrageous combinations
as Mayaguaduvid, Molechemumk
MOoselHimaguntic, and Chinquas>abam-
took as elnS hOpelessly and defiantly
heathcnish in their essential COnStruc
ton, and possessing little or no interest
except in so far as they indicate nature
of the soil or the devious course of the
rivers, in the Localities to which they
have been applied, We arrive at the con
Slderation OF certain names which con
cern us more nearly. 'Eufaula" we
have found, means liquidated cur,
and not blooming rose or fragrant
magnolia, or anything of that kind
"ChattahoOche, Likewise, does not
mean the silver Path to the sea, but
rather Very Muddy, IT'S well as We re-
member.
Mississippi has long mas4uera ed
as the Father of Waters old Indians
however, told the early settlers that it
meant what may be very nearly ex-
pressed hy the general term Lig Ugly
"Cahaba, the name of one of the
streams in Alabama, has always been
tran lated Beautiful River The full
Indian name, however, was Cahaba- hia
or Chunk pile, by which term they in
dicated to thoir own satisfaction the
fact that its classic shores wer- always
lined to an unusual extent with drift
wood. "Choccoocco is the name of an
other Alabama stream, q creek of con-
siderable size which runs through Il
famous valley of the same ndme. 1t
has been claimed by those who have
land to sell in the valley, that the
creek was named from the valley, and
that ChoccolOc,o means III the
aboriginal vornacular, "A val
ley abounding i'll r.ch minerals. y
the more literal inhabitants who have
not lands for sale state that the original
name was Chocco Thlocco, or High
orse, indicating that the stream was
too deep to be forded on pony Talla-
roosa was never synonym for happy
homes" but was simply the dog
town" Tallc1ega was the cat-tOwu,
of course, and the list might be ex-
tended indefinitely.
1t is not necessary or desirable, how
ever to pursue the painful theme any
further. 1t is not a pleasant task to
undeceiye people in regard TO their most
cherished beliefs, and the ioonoclast is
not always regarded us public bene-
factor Whatever may have been the
original meaning of the names which
we have mentioned, it is plain that the
Interpretation now put upon thom is
much more agreeable in every way and
further search might lead to unpleaS-
ant discoveries in regard to like names
nearer home