Autonym of Mosopeleas-Ouesperies-Ofos

[Alan H. Hartley]

This is how I summarized it back in 2004 for the OED:

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OFOGOULA  n.

 From a Mobilian-jargon or Muskogean name, which is a reanalysis as 
'dog-people' (cf. Chickasaw ofi? 'dog,' Apalachee akola 'people') of a 
non-Muskogean name of uncertain origin.

NOTE (speculative): the source may be an Ofogoula word in ofo- that was 
derived from or is cognate with--by the regular loss of lexeme-initial 
/m/ and /w/ in Ofogoula and by the change of Common Siouan *s to 
Ofogoula /f/--an earlier name recorded as Mosopelea (and varr.) and 
perhaps applied to the ancestral Ofogoula people when they resided 
further north along the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. Mosopelea is 
probably an Illinois Indian name meaning literally 'deer-turkey' < 
moonswa 'deer' + pile:wa 'turkey.'

Based on emails from Robt. Rankin (2 May 2004) and Michael McCafferty (4 
May 2004), and on E. Drechsel Mobilian Jargon (1997) 318, J. M. Crawford 
Studies SE Indian Langs. (1975) 89, and J. Swanton Indian Tribes Lower 
Mississippi Valley (1911) 38.

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Alan

> What would be phonetic interpretation of the autonym of the various eras 
> of the Mosopelea-Ouesperie-Ofo language?
>  
> Bob spoke on the first elements:
>  
> /Moso-/
>  
> /Oso-/
>  
> /Ofo/
>  
> And two big questions:
>  
> 1) What is to made of the nasal attestations of the name: "Mons8pelea" 
> and "Onspee"?
>  
> 2) What does "-pelea" "-perie" represent? Is it likely a part of the 
> autonym? Was it likely dropped from the autonym by the time the tribe 
> became known as the Ofo, when they lived on the lower Missisippi?
>  
> Travis