Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-11-07
THE SPELLING OF IOWA.
Interesting Evolution From Indian
Nornacujar

| w. p. Kremer. of New York City
has written the following interesting
article about the name of this state
for The Nauvoo Independent:
Everybody Is familiar with the
word Iowa, and most likely the ell
tire present generation thinks the
word always had the same repre-
sentation in photography as well as
sounds and accents in pronunciation
But the facts all point to very rad
ical change in both cases. When and
where the word first appeared is
unknown to the writer. but it be-
came prominent about hundred
Lewis and Clark expedition to the
Rocky mountains were placed before
the people. These explorers varied
somewhat on their spelling of
the word, which. IL printed on a poster
and pasted on a fence or barn today
would not be recognized by tire
average person as being the original
name of the Hawkeye state.
The first appearance of the word In
that interesting journal is in an ac-
count OF the Ayauway Indians as hav-
ing village forty leagues up the Des
Moines river, which consisted of 500
people, of whom 200 were warriors
They were represented as being tur-
bulent savages.
As the journey progressed the au-
thors forgot or learned more correctly
! the sound OF the word and spelled II
Ayawa, Anyway. Ayahwa, Ayovai, Ay-
auvai Aiaoaez, with added to make
the plural, and sometimes laval and
Aaway from which the now familiar
word Iowa is derived.
The great George Catlin who went
out on the plains in 1881, following
to some extent the same route taken
by Lewis and Clark. and spent eight
years with the Indians studying thei.
language and habits and painting them
true to nature, was better qualified
than any man living or dead. to spell
the word so as to give 1t the sound as
the Indians used it, In his writings
and on his maps giving the locality of
tribes. the "IowayS" were represented
as occupying the territory from the
Missouri river eastward to point near
the Iowan river. The evidently rep
resents the plural and he certainly
snsled the word as he heard it pro-
nounced and all the old timers fell In ,
the same habit of placing the accent
on way, the last syllable of the word.
When or why the letter W was
dropped is not clear to the writer,
whether it ripened and fell off on ma :
turity. or was knocked off by repeated
efforts Of some later arrivals from
eastern schools or by the committee
which succeeded in getting a territorial
organization recognized on July 4, 1898.
AT least the v disappeared after that,
and the word took several somersaults
in pronunciation from the sound of au
in the last syllable to the sound of the
three Vowels, as are here represented
by size. namely: iOa.
On the old maps of that period tina
Kansas river has the peculiar spelling
of Chanceze river and Arkansaw in
stead of our now Arkansas river The
early settlers of that territory knew 1t
only as Arkansaw. The rag time song
that enlivened the young people half
| century or more ago was the "Arkan-
saw Traveller Mapmakers without
authority changed the spelling of the
word and college professors changed
the pronunciation, until the Legislature
of the state adopted a law changing It
back to it's original sounds, but neg
lected to change the photography so as
to make sound and spelling uniform as
the pioneers formed it.
fancy that the early representatives
of the state. A. G. Dodge, James w.
Grimes. the learned C. Ben Darwin or
the preaeher-orator. Henry Clay Dean
If the roll call of the dead was sounded
by states. would scarcely recognize the
now iOa as being the name OF their
former home.
Dictionaries and encyclopedias do
not always give the origin OF words
They are but slow coaches following
up tha trail often long after the rear
guard has passed and the storms have
effaced the footprints on the shifting
sand. Webster's dictionary did not
contain the word Iowa" until 1859.
thirteen years after 1t became state
of the union and twenty one years
after It's territorial organization. The
great Webster revised the edition and
| added several hundred names in 1913
and the word had been in common use