American Language (109 page)

126
A Study in Negro Onomastics,
American Speech
, Aug., 1930.

127
See the
American Mercury
, March, 1927, p. 303.

128
See Name-Lore From New Orleans, by Marion E. Stanley,
American Speech
, June, 1927, p. 412.

129
Negro Names,
American Speech
, April, 1929.

130
I am especially indebted here to Miss Lenora Lund of Greensburg, Pa., Mr. Beverly Entzler of Golds-boro, N. C., Mr. George Macready of Wakefield, R. I., Mr. Donald Moffat of Brookline, Mass., and Dr. Henry H. Haines of Buffalo, N. Y.

131
Hartford
Courant
, Sept. 25, 1935

132
In Across the Plains; New York, 1892.

133
Issued annually, with monthly supplements.

134
The sixth report, embracing decisions down to 1932, was issued in 1933, and pamphlet supplements come out frequently. The board is composed of representatives of the State, War, Treasury, Commerce, Interior, Navy, Postoffice and Agriculture Departments, and of the Government Printing Office, the Library of Congress, and the Smithsonian Institution. It was created by an executive order of President Harrison, Sept. 4, 1890, and its decisions as to spelling are binding on all Federal departments. In the sixth report more than 26,000 geographical names are listed, covering the whole world, but with the continental United States pre-dominating. There is a valuable preface on the spelling of geographical names.

135
National Nomenclature, Vol. XIV, p. 158.

136
Aboriginal Names and Geographical Terminology of the State of New York,
Proceedings of the New York Historical Society
, 1844.

137
Portland, 1928. The material was first printed in the
Oregon Historical Quarterly
, beginning in Dec., 1925.

138
Missouri Historical Review
, Jan. See also Introduction to a Survey of Missouri Place-Names, by Robert L. Ramsay, Allen Walker Read and Esther Gladys Leech; Columbia, Mo., 1934. Mr. Read’s Observations of Iowa Place-Names,
American Speech
, Oct., 1929, is an excellent discussion of the subject: what he says about Iowa names might be applied to the place-names of any other State. In The Basis of Correctness in the Pronunciation of Place-Names,
American Speech
, Feb., 1933, he makes another valuable contribution to the subject.

139
A bibliography running down to 1922 will be found in A Bibliography of Writings on the English Language from the Beginning of Printing to the End of 1922, by Arthur G. Kennedy; Cambridge and New Haven, 1927, p. 349
ff
. For the period since 1925 the bibliographies printed in each issue of
American Speech
may be consulted. Unfortunately, most of the published studies of American place-names are amateurish, and it is unusual for a philologian as competent as Mr. Read to be concerned with the subject. In England the English Place-Name Society has been carrying on an elaborate and well coördinated survey of English place-names since 1922. It has the coöperation of linguists, historians, paleographers, archeolo-gists, topographers and other experts, and under the editorship of Dr. Allen Mawer, provost of University College, London, and Professor F. M. Stenton, of Reading University, it has already published a dozen valuable volumes. There is a statement of its plans and aims in the
Literary Supplement
of the London
Times
, May 3, 1923.

140
The authority here is River and Lake Names in the United States, by Edmund T. Ker; New York, 1911. Stephen G. Boyd, in Indian Local Names; York (Pa.), 1885, says that the original Indian name was
Pootuppag
.

141
The best discussion of
Mississippi
that I have found is in Louisiana Place Names of Indian Origin, by William A. Read;
Bulletin of the Louisiana State University
, Feb., 1927. The name comes from two Algonkian words,
misi
, great, and
sipi
, water. The early Spaniards and French called the river the
Rio Grande
, the
Buade
, the
Rivière de la Conception
, the
Colbert
and the
St. Louis
. “The first European to use the Indian name,” says Dr. Read, “was Peñolosa, the Governor of New Mexico, who in 1661 wrote it
Mischipi
.… The modern spelling occurs as early as 1718.” The Southern Choctaws called the lower river the
Malbanchya
, meaning a place of foreign languages, a reference to the early European settlements.

142
The bard here is the ineffable Lydia Huntley Sigourney (1791–1865), the Amy Lowell and Edna St. Vincent Millay of a more seemly era. She wrote 40 books; and contributed 2000 poems to 300 periodicals. The lines I quote are from Indian Names,
c
. 1822.

143
See Classical Place-Names in America, by Evan T. Sage,
American Speech
, April, 1929. Mr. Sage says that Pennsylvania shows more classical place-names than any other State, with Ohio ranking second, New York third, Texas fourth, and Connecticut last. He calls attention to the pseudo-classical names:
Demopolis
(Ala.),
Cosmopolis
(Wash.),
Gallipolis
(O.),
Indianapolis
(Ind.),
Thermopolis
(Wyo.),
Coraopolis
(Pa.), and
Opolis
(Kans.). See also Origin of the Classical Place-Names of Central New York, by Charles Maar,
Quarterly Journal of the New York State Historical Association
, July, 1926.

144
See Amerikanska Ortnamn af Svenskt Ursprung, by V. Berger; New York, 1915. The Swedish names listed by Mr. Berger are chiefly to be found in Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and the Dakotas. See also Scandinavian Place-Names in the American Danelaw, by Roy W. Swanson,
Swedish-American Historical Bulletin
(St. Peter, Minn.), Aug., 1929.

145
In most of the States local antiquaries have investigated the State names. See, for example, The Origin and Meaning of the Name
California
, by George Davidson; San Francisco, 1910;
California
, the Name, by Ruth Putnam; Berkely, 1917;
Arizona
, Its Derivation and Origin, by Merrill P. Freeman; Tucson, 1913;
Ohio
, 1803–1903, by Maria Ewing Martin; New Straits-ville, 1903; the Naming of
Indiana
, by Cyrus W. Hodgin; Richmond (Ind.), 1903;
Idaho
, Its Meaning, Origin and Application, by John E. Rees; Portland (Ore.), 1917. See also The Origin of American State Names, by F. W. Lawrence,
National Geographic Magazine
, Aug., 1920. The literature on the names of cities is rather meager. A model contribution to the subject is
Baltimore
— What Does the Name Mean?, by Hermann Collitz,
Johns Hopkins Alumni Magazine
, Jan., 1934. Baltimore, of course, gets its name from the title of the Barons Baltimore, Lords Proprietor of Maryland. Dr. Collitz shows that the name comes from the Irish
ballti-more
, signifying “the place of the great lord.”

146
American Place-Names,
American Speech
, Nov., 1925, p. 79.

147
Atlantic Monthly
, April, 1904, pp. 468–9.

148
It is reprinted in Local Discolor, by Mamie Meredith,
American Speech
, April, 1931.

149
This substitution, I am informed, was due to the jealousy of Seattle, the citizens of which objected to having the greatest American peak south of Alaska bear the name of the rival city of Tacoma. But it is still called
Tacoma
in Tacoma.

150
The name of Jamaica, L. I., was originally
Rustdorp
and that of Westchester was
Ostdorp
. To this day Schenectady is commonly called
The Dorp
locally, and its people pass as
Dorpians
. See Dialectical Evidence in the Place-Names of Eastern New York, by Edward E. Hale,
American Speech
, Dec., 1929. Mr. Hale’s errors in Dutch are corrected by A. E. H. Swaen, in Dutch Place-Names in Eastern New York,
American Speech
, June, 1930.

151
The Geographic Board of Canada is naturally more tender with French names, but some of them are so long that it is forced to shorten them.
Le Petit Journal
of Montreal reported on Nov. 22, 1931 that there was a
Coeur-Très-Pur-de-la-Bienheureuse-Vierge-Marie-de-Plaisance
(commonly reduced to
Plaisance
) in Quebec, and a
Ste. Marie
-
Madeleine-du-Cap-de-la-Madeleine
to keep it company. The board also makes war on the numerous
k
’s in Canadian Indian names on the ground that
k
is not a French letter. Examples:
Kapiki-
kikakik, Kakekekwaki
. In general, the board opposes the abandonment of French names. Thus it has decided for
Matissard
(lake) as against
Horsetail
, and for
Laberge
(creek) as against
Lizard
. Some of the Canadian names show strange combinations. When the French-speaking rustics found a village they commonly give it a saint’s name and then tack on the name of the district. The result is such marvels as
St. Evariste de Forsyth, St. Hippolyte de Kilkenny
and
St. Louis du Ha Ha
.

152
I am indebted here to Mr. Lewis A. McArthur, secretary to the Oregon Geographic Board. He tells me also of the fate of
Psyche
, a town in Clallam county. The local residents, baffled by the name, called it
Pysht
, and in the end the Postoffice succumbed, and
Pysht
it is today.

153
A Dictionary of Spanish Terms in English; New York, 1932, p. 17.

154
Gap
occurs in England, but it is very rare. There is a Goring
Gap
between the Chiltern Hills and the Berkshire Downs, on the railway from London to Oxford.

155
See Picturesque Town-Names in America, by Mamie Meredith,
American Speech
, Aug., 1931; American Towns Bear Odd Names, New York
Times
, Feb. 7, 1932; and Strangers in Mississippi Find
Hot Coffee
is Place, Baltimore
Evening Sun
, Oct. 21, 1932. During the Winter of 1934–5 the
Evening Sun
printed a series of lists of odd place-names on its editorial page. Some grotesque English names, almost fit to match the specimens above, are listed in Queer Names,
American Church Monthly
, Sept., 1931, p. 173,
e.g., Upper Swell, Little Snoring, Nether Peover, Appledram, Swaffham, Eye Over, Fetcham, Snailwell, High Easter
,
Wooton
,
Wawen
,
Mutford
.

156
In State Border Place-Names, by Henry J. Heck,
American Speech
, Feb., 1928, 51 such names are listed.

157
Louise Pound: Blends,
Anglistische Forschungen
, Heft XLII, p. 10. The origin of the names of the other
Delmars
I do not know. Mr. Donald L. Cherry of Watsonville, Calif., suggests that some of them may derive from the Spanish
del mar
, signifying of the sea.

158
The proposal that it be made a separate State is frequently made by local politicians and boosters. This proposal gets some support in Baltimore, where the Delmarvian
Kultur
is not greatly admired.

159
The Delaware Water Gap, by L. W. Brodhead; Phila., 1870, p. 274.

160
The addition of
courthouse
to a place-name to indicate a county-seat (it is commonly abbreviated to
C. H.
) seems to be a Southernism. “The county-towns of Virginia,” said John R. Bartlett in his Glossary (2nd ed., 1859) “are often called
courthouses
without regard to their proper names. Thus,
Providence
, the county-town of Fairfax, is unknown by that name, and passes as
Fairfax Court-House
, and
Culpepper Court-House
has superseded its proper name of
Fairfax
. The same practise has existed to some extent in Maryland. Thus, after the Battle of Bladensburg, and the dispersion of our forces, they were ordered to assemble at
Montgomery Court-House
.” John S. Farmer, in his Americanisms Old and New (1889), said that the practise also extended to South Carolina. It survives in the names of a few Virginia county-towns, and of one town in Ohio, but is going out.

161
Now and then it encounters a stout local resistance. When it tried to shorten
Pittsburgh
to
Pittsburg
that resistance was sufficient to preserve
Pittsburgh
, which is now official.

162
Every-Day English, p. 100. See also American English, by Gilbert Tucker; New York, 1921, p. 33, and American Pronunciation, by J. S. Kenyon; Ann Arbor, Mich., 1932, pp. 135–6.

163
This spelling-pronunciation seems to have disappeared. The local pronunciation today is
Shongum
. I have often noted that Americans, in speaking of the familiar
Worcestershire
sauce, commonly pronounce every syllable and enunciate
shire
distinctly. In England it is always
Woostersh’r
. The English have a great number of decayed pronunciations,
e.g., Maudlin
for
Magdelen, Sissiter
for
Cirencester, Merrybone
for
Marylebone
. Their geographical nomenclature shows many corruptions due to faulty pronunciation and folk etymology,
e.g., Leighton Buzzard
for the Norman
Leiton Beau Desart
.

164
The Legislature of the State, by an act approved March 15, 1881, decided that the name “should be pronounced in three syllables, with the final
s
silent, the
a
in every syllable with the Italian sound, and the accent on the first and last syllable.” But the Italian
a
in the second syllable has been flattened. In Kansas the
Arkansas
river is called the
Arkansas
, with the last two syllables identical with
Kansas
. The people of
Arkansas City
in the same State use the same pronunciation. See The Basis of Correctness in the Pronunciation of Proper Names, by Allen Walker Read,
American Speech
, Feb., 1935.