Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1906-07-23
OUR LANGUAGE is ENRICHED BY
INDIAN NAMES.
BIG JOB FOR COMMISSION
Expert Has Been Appointed by the
Government to Give in English the
Original ignIficance-Much Poe
try and Romance in Them-More
Than 5000 PIace-names.

appointed by the government to
translate into concise, correct English
all Indian names found in the geog-
raphy of the United States has on
its hand a job of great magnitude,
as may be comprehended when it is
considered that more than 5000
names, now affixed to various points
between Maine and California and
the Canadian line and the Rio
commemorate the fact that the red
man was once sole pOssessor of the
land. The names of his chiefs and
of his tribes are forever fixed in
memory. Indian traditions are per-
petuated and musical Indian words
have been incorporated into our
tongue, legacy of poetry and ro-
nance even in this practical age.
Every name the Indian gave meant
something. He left to his pale faced
brother, the absurdities of prefXing
to 2.700 towns and settlements the
stale descriptive terms, east, west,
north, south; he left to the white
man the confusion of thirty-three
Springfelds in one union, not fifth
of which were ever built in a field
or by a spring; of Pinevilles without
a pine, Oakdales without an oak,
Weymouths and PIymouths that are
not at the mouth Of the Wey, the
Plym, or any other river; of Mt.
Vernons twenty-five strong, many of
them not even hill to their
credit, and of LOO New Ravens,
New Yorks, Newtowns and New
every thing-else, all of which have
long since ceased to be new.
Not so with the Indian. He pitched
his wigwam beside the stream.
Through the curling waters the long,
dark stones on the rivers bed looked
! like offers at play, and forthwith the
camping place received the name 1t
bears today-Kalamazo Stones
like-otters" in the Indian tongue.
| Again, he saw on a river bank pine
tree wreathed in flames; for hours it
threw its torchlike glare over the
| landscape, as would have beamed the
glow of some council fire fed by at
tendant warriors, and Potomac that
region became, a literal translation Of
which is 'the place of the burning
pine, that resembles a council fire.
Poughkeepsie is ga safe harbor fol
small boats;" Norridgewock, "the
place of DEER" Ontario, "the village
on the mountain" Saranac, "the
river that flows under rock" and Sar
atoga, che place of the miraculous
waters in a rock"
Similarly, Schenectady is "the river
valley beyond the pine trees" Soho
harie is the tributary that throws its
waters strong over and across The
main stream;' the Wabash is "a
cloud blown forward by an equinoc
tial wind" MQnongahela is "the fall
/ ing-in-bank river" Rappahannock
the river of quick-rising water" and
Toronto, "oak trees rising from the
lake." Such words show a wondrous
skill in the art of word painting, and
the expressive Indian tongue reflects
their impressions with a vivid mi
nuteness impossible to more cumber-
some English.
There is no commonplace in Indian
names. All of the Indians terms are
picturesque, because they are alive
and full of meaning to him. A thous-
and examples could be given. Once,
before the white mans day. a caving-
| in of river bank revealed the huge
| fossil tusk of some prehistoric mon
ster. At once the river received
the name Chemung, big Horn" and
generations of squaws told to genera
tons of papooses the traditions of
the big bones and white jaws that
once had been found there. In 1875
portion of Maine was visited by a
most devastating fire. The Indians
at once gave the region the name of
Schoodic, the great burnt lands, "
perpetuating forever the memory OF
the terrible disaster. Orinoco is
Cooling snake" possibly reference
TO the crooked course of the stream,
but more probably marking the not
able killing of some venomous reptile.
Sometimes it was the physical
features that were name-refected.
Thus-Wetumpka is "tumbling wa
ters;" Sandusky, the cold spring; "
Katahdin, the highest place." Tioga,
the swift current" Niagara, the
meek of water" Nahant is Eat the
point" Passumnsick is much clear
water" and Chautauqua is the 'foggy
place" Sometimes the Indians
names reflected his superstitions.
Thus, Mantle is spirit" Montauk is
"a manito or spirit tree" and Min
newaukon means The devils lake. y
Sometimes his names celebrate his
hunting or fishing exploits. Macki-
nav is an abbreviation of longer
word meaning "the great turtle place"
Quinsigamond means "the fishing
place for pickerel." There are sew
eral Ammons, which, as the govern
ment has a peculiar penchant for lop-