The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-06-28
NOTED INDIAN NAMES

While the aborigines of this country are fast disappearing and their final extenc- tion is but question of time, it has been dances of their former occupancy of the country they inhabited more permanent than monuments of granite, and as last ing as the rocks and mountains of their native domain. in the multitude of local names applied to rivers, lakes, towns and other localities, the origin and meaning of which is becoming a subject of inter- esting injury, says the Philadelphia in- Quirer.
 The popular idea is that these Indian local names, or those taken to be such, are genuine names, and possess some ap propriate signification; but whoever will take the trouble to investigate in this re- gard will find much in this notion that is erroneous.
 For instance, the word Illinois passes in this form an Indian word-indeed, is generally accepted as such from informa- tion derived from those we have consid- cred authority on the subject-while the fact is it is one of those numerous local names brought to us by the French in corrupted form.
 The word Illini (French orthography) is an Indian word, and signifies man" The terminal sound ois is an adjective termn- ation added by the French. This Is not the plural form of this word and does not as many have contended, signify ''men." The plural form of this word. signifying men," is Il-lin-i-wug. f fe 1x-H f&. 41- in the dialect of tribe of that group who inhabited the country of the Mississippi in the vicinity of Des Moines and Illinois rivers. who first became known to the whites through Marquette, who visited a village of the tribe in 1873. on the west side o3 the Mississippi river near the mouth of the Des Moines.
 This word is said to be derived from some circumstance in the course of an interview between Marquette and the principal chief of this village, from what WAS said by the chief in answer to in- quiries by Marquette as to who this peo- pie were, saying that they were ''perrect men," and not beasts like the Iroquois, who were then invading their country, committing unmerciful acts of barbarity upon this peaceful people. as they claimed to be.
 The word Sioux also passes for an In- dian word. and is another instance of a so-called Indian word signifying really nothing in this form, for which the French are also responsible.
 This word comes from the terminal syllable or sound in the term Nau-da-wis- sou, an Algonquin word. signifying "en- emy," name of reproach, which tribes of this group gave to the Dakotas.
 The early French explorers and ad- venturers, having in general but little or n ad gal6 trnt1 lad with nice distinctions in dealing with h. dian local names, and frequently abridged them in this manner, and in referring to this people. instead of pronouncing the whole word, Nau-da-wis-sou, they caught up only the terminal sound Sioux; so that the word Sioux. applied to this great na- tion, of itself means nothing.
 The name which they give to them selves is Dakota, meaning 'leagued" or united people,"
 To further show how our local Indian nemes are corrupted, the word ''Milwau- kee" may be taken as an instance. The tribe inhabiting the country in the vi- cinfty of that place had not in their dialect the sound of I. This letter is a transposition of in this word by the French--a practice common with them in reference to Indian names, and thus Is a corruption of the original word. The proper word it is said, is Min-no- -au-kee.
 According to general rule in dialects of the Algonquin group, two vowel sounds in word are never allowed to come together but the rule is to separate them by consonant sound for purposes of euphony generally by the sound of w. | so that. properly in speaking the word | Min-no -au-kee. the sound of W should | be thrown in between the two vowels. making 1t Mi-no-wau-kee.
 The meaning of this term is good earth" ."good land" or good country"-i from Minno, good" Aukee, "earth'' or land" About the first mention of the word Milwaukee, Is by Hennepin, in his account of LaSalle's exposition through the Mississippi valley, as the