Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-22
ALittle Indian-English Dictionary.

| cat. The Irri-ronon was the cat nation or
tribe the totem or badge of which, as we
would call it now, wa. the cat. But all this
is disputed-a cat-o-nine tales, as it were, of
which haven't space to tell the rema lining
| eight.
Mahoning means, in Delaware Indian. "at
the lick" 1t is common to Pennsylvania
| and Ohio and in slightly varying forms ap-
| piled to dozen localities where there were
| "salt licks" or "deer lfcks."
Venango is said to be a French corruption
| from the Indian word Ir-uu71-gah, said to re-
| fer to an obscure figure carved upon a tree
| Timothy Alden, who had been a missionary
| among the Indians on the reservation in
! Warren county, and who, in 1sl6, was editor
! of the allegheny Magazine.
| student Of Indian philology reminder of a
| CHASTITY occurrence there-the placing of an
Indian prisoners head upon pole. The
name is from "Wihlink''-"the place of the
head"
Kiskiminitis, according to Heckewelder, is
from Gischga Md1,ito (the Great Spirit), who
was invoked by a band of Indians on the
banks Of the stream to cause daylight to ap-
pear when tney were attacked in the night
Youghiogheny, which the pioneers found
more formidable to pronounce than to ford,
they 'tgot over" in the former matter, by
simply calling it "the Yoh," but the early
writer's, for pleasant change, called it
Yoriogdnf, and the straight Indian term
was Tlt-aoidk-hdnne which was their way Of
saying that it was 'the stream running the
crooked course"
Monongahela is taken mixed or straight
Oh, forgot!-I mean it signifies "falling
bank river''-the river banks because Of the
rich nature Of the soil, easily breaking and
falling into the current. So said Albert
Gallatin, who was an authority on the local
Indian nomenclature.
There Were No Irish Indians.
Strange as it may seem there were no
Irish Indians or Indians of Irish descent.
There are two reasons for believing there
were. One is that John Brougham, in his
burlesque "Pochahontas," an unquestion-
ably broad study of Indian life and char
was about to be beheaded, and the
Kings big two-handed tomahawk wa,
brought ior the purpose, Smith
gently, but firmly, NAY, not SO: you err,
Mr.. Smith" Upon which Mr.. Smith ex-
claimed exultantly. in now-Ive-gotyou
style, "Then why the broad az se,Hs" under
scoring the last three words with wave of
his hand.
Another reason for believing that there
were Irish Indians is the finding of such an
Indian word as Conemaatgh But the impair
tial German, Heckewelder, tells us this
comes by legitimate descent from the fine
old Indian word 7dngamochki, which means
maugh and Conoquenessing however. induces
me to believe there were Irish tran slators,
as well as French and English, who got
tangled up with some OF these indian words.
The latter name applied to creek We are
told means ga long, straight course"
when everybody knows that the stream
narrowly escaped crossing itself several
times and is the crookedest thing in Butler
county-which is saying good deal. Prob
ably the Irish translator was thinking of
Mon.ngahela rather than Conoquenessing,
is original with the writer snd seems to have
altogether escaped such learned commenta-
tors on Indian bric-a-brac names as Hecke-
welder and Schoolclaft
As sober matter of fact there is little
stream up in Indiana county called Queen
Mahon." 1t would suggest very naturally a
queenly Irishwoman named Mahon, but it
was, in reality formed by an endeavor
to express in English the soundof the In
dian name CuUe1 Mdhoni," signifying "the
pine grove lick;' nldhoni being simply var
fant OF mdhonfng he etofore mentioned, and
n. DERFLA.