Sequachee Valley news. (Sequachee [Sequatchie], Tenn.) 1896-1952, 1899-10-26


goria Of hay, which would soon scatter
our people to the four corners OF the
earth.
Let US consider the subject in anoth-
er way. We have no library to fall
back on for full information on tho sub
ject, which our erudite friend appears
to have, and wa can only debate the
question from standpoint Of common
sense and reason. We have nothing in
the way Of dictionary Of the Indian
language that will show to US the word
in toto, and We doubt very much If such
an authority be in existence. We have
nothing that will actually show wheth-
er Sequachee or Sequatchie either, are
/, absolutely correct and the reason why
is contained in the following bit of his
tory.
The first school among the Cherokee
Indians for purposes of instruction, was
established by the American Board Of
Commissioners for Foreign Missions in
1917. An Indian youth, who was named
Sequoyah, but called by the whites
Geo. Guess, received instruction in this
school for a short time. The English
alphabet was found ill-adapted to the
Cherokee language in that it failed TO
properly convey to the mind the sounds
in this language, and this attracted the
attention OF the Indian youth, who in
vented or prepared an alphabet of SO
characters, which was found to be a
syllabical system and we'll adapted to
the language; whereupon it was adopt
ed by the missionaries about 1924, and
has since been taught to all classes in
Indian schools conformity with the En-
glish language.
If this be the case and history says it
is, how can we venture any opinion as
regards the photography of the word
II Guess was obliged to invent special
alphabet to convey the correct sounds
OF his language, how can we express
them in ours? Was he in error, and
was the Mission Board which approved
his action in error, too? 1t is just as
necessary for us to invent a special al
phabet to convey the correct sounds OF
his language to our ears as it was for
hid to do so to educate his people to
ours. This stands to reason.
Let us advance little further on the
, question, using this alphabet as it has
been preserved. Sequoyah in his al
phabet did not express the sound Ch,
but used is instead. Take the word
Sequatchie, and insert tS in the place oi
ch, and you have this remarkable pro
duction, SequatJsia, which Offends the
: first principles Of the Cherokee Ian.
guage, viz, that every syllable should
= end in vowel, and that double conson
ants, with few exceptions) should be
Y lacking. Hence according to his alpha
: bet Sequatchie should be spelled "Se
: quattsie," which is ridiculous and does
- not mean anything. 1t is poor rule
that won't work both ways, and the spell
a ing may be traced back TO the Englisl
form thus, taking Sequachee, the cor
+ rect way, as the basis: SequStsee, an
!. glicize is to oh, Sequachee.
# Having Cotton thus far, and demolish
+ ed the question of using tch in its or
a. typography, we will now go on a stel
a further with our argument viz, in re
a gard to ending the word with "ie" in
stead Of "ee." The vast bulk of In
% dian words ending in the sound, Chero
i kee words especially, end in "oe," anC
a attention is turned to any map or pos ta
Il guide for demonstration OF the truth o
A. this fact Are the majority in erro
n and the few in the right, or should it b
- the other way? Are 99-1OO OF the In
q dian names Of this character spelled in
i correctly because 1-1OO of them are a
+ legged to be spelled right? The wor
Ia Erie may be alleged as an example
\ refute our argument, but this is an lrt
,u quois word, an Indian race that lived /
,r the present confines of New York Stat
q and probably other states. The India
"a language has been divided by scholar
D. into four grand divisions, and the Ire
+ quois and Cherokee languages we're Il
h. tally different in formation and struc
n ure. Moreover the point under discu
+ sion is admitted by the authority quo
Ia ed in the Enquirer's article, j. e. Ran
~ sey, who, referring to the names
N streams, says: "Loustahatchee, Sequa
e. chee, ETC., have happily escaped vand'
se mutilation. The reader will note
,a spells them with Zee" Also in He
1a woods History of Tennessee, a veI
m rare volume, published in 1923, pri
in TO Mr. Ramsey's book, we defy anyOE
"a to cite single example Of an India
~ word of similar structure being spell'
va in It otherwise than zee, or simply "e
%, which in some words is the correct fore
~ We cite several names Of rivers fro
no Mr.. Hsywood's book, collected at ra
or dom: Chestotee, CoWee, Nanteyale
or HiWassee, Tombigbee, .Ksowee, Hob
va hesgee, and lastly CatahOuchee. WI
y not Catahoutchie, we would ask the Z
ar quirer2
ms We cite lot Of Indian names fro
to the Postal Guide, all postotices in Il
Sc, state. The hrst are words ending
~. 4 II O. D. .-sa 3 D. 81.