Historical questions

[David Costa]

> As I start to write my thesis, beginning with an overview
> of Omaha history, a miscellany of questions has been
> occurring to me, some relevant and some not.  I thought
> I would post some of these to the list, to find out what
> is known about them.
>
> 1.  The earliest French name for the Missouri River
>     is Pekitanoui.  Does anyone know where that comes
>     from or what it means?  Is it Algonquian?

Yes. Note Fox /pi:kihtanwi/ 'Missouri River' and Menominee /pe:ke?tanoh/
(loc.) 'on or at the Missouri River'. The term appears to mean 'Muddy
River'; compare Plains Cree /pi:kan/ & /pi:ka:kamiw/ 'it is turbid, muddy',
and pi:kano(:wi)-si:piy 'muddy river, Missouri river'.

> 2.  The name Missouri itself looks like it _might_
>     possibly come from something like MVS
>     *mni-s^ot(i)a, if we can preserve the m in *mni
>     and shift the sibilants forward a slot, as happens
>     in IO.  Is this a likely etymology, or completely
>     off the mark?

The latter, I fear. It's actually from Illinois /mihsoori/ 'canoe'. Michael
McCafferty just wrote an article about this name, so I'll let him elaborate.

best,

David Costa