Clarksville evening chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn) 1886-1890, 1888-12-29
THE NEW STATES.
Dilligent Efforts Being Made to
Find Names for Them.
SEVERAL SUGGESTIONS FROM AN EN-
INFNT ETHNOLoGIsT.

''Wnona" wiz Probably be Chosen for
South Dakota, and Dakota" for the
Northern Portion-''A Iontezuma'' for New
Mexico-No Change for BTontana-w wash
ingtOn News Notes.
WASHINGTON, Dec 29--Mr. Springer, the
chairman of the committee on territory has
been making diligent effort to find names for
the new states which mis- bill will make out of
the present territories. A few days ago he
sent letter to the bureau of ethnology ask
sng its aid and suggestion in the selection of
euphonious, and at the same time appropriate
names for the new states. Dakota gave him
most trouble Nothing seemed to him to be
more commonplace than North Dakota
and "South Dakota" and it was TO Dakota
that he asked the bureaus especial attention.
He has received the following interesting
letter from Gerrick Molloy:
"In compliance with your request / have
decided especial attention to a desirable name
for state to be composed Of Tie southern
portion of the present territory of Dakota
Your limitations were that the name should
have direct reference to the Dakotan stock
or linguistic family of Indians, and that the
term Dakota itself was occupied for the
northern portion of the territory. Two
words purely Dakotan seem to have euphony
and poetical merit
"One is 'Winona,' the name given to the
frst-born child of a Dakota woman, provided
the first-born is female. An objection to
the use of that term is that it is already APP
propriated by a town well known The
other is 'ratonka, translated buffalo, in
volving the idea Of the land of the buffalo,
which is appropriate to that region
''lhe term which ! recommend is strictly
of chronological accuracy for that region, 1t
is 'Sanona,' This is the old and correct form
of the larger part of the Dakota stock which
had It's home in that part of the territory Il
appears in Lewis and Clarke under the blum
dering form of 'Sahone' and 'Saom, and in
our own Indian treaties as 'Sionne and com
prehends the majority of the great body now
popularity spelled 'Titon' and Teton, but cor
rectly 'Fitonwan. This last expression might
be used but it is not so euphOniOus as 'Sa-
mona, which means substantially the same,
that is the title of the Indians who actually
were the predecessors of the whites in the
locality under consideration
Mr.. Springer does not, however, share the
eminent ethnologist's preference for ga
mona" He thinks "NWinona" is the pleas
ATTEST of all, and has selected it for South
Dakota. Hewill advocate the retention of the
name Dakota for North Dakota, mainly,
he says, because 'the word has become part
of our political history and has so many rea-
sons to he remembered" He instances the
wide significance in business circles of the
term Dakota wheat
In the naming of the other new states Mr.
Springer has shown equal good taste and re-
search. New Mexico is to join the ssterhood
of states under the stately name Of Monte
yuma for Washington territory he has Sc
lected Laconica, while Montana is to retain
its present name. Mr., Springer is showing
his colleagues that he is both a poet and
scholar