Mandan Contacts

[Muhammed Suleiman]

Dear all,

            At the risk of reintroducing a question which might previously have been asked on this list, can anyone tell me why early accounts of the Mandans suggest that they are a lost Welsh tribe, having words supposeedly cognate with Welsh words, and one report even speaks of a Welshman communicating with the natives in his mother tongue. There are accounts, of course, of a Prince Madoc sailing to America long before Columbus; but does anyone know of any reason why these reports should have singled out the Mandans? Is it something to do with the lateral sounds of that language and the Welsh _ll_ sound of _Llangollen_?

Secondly, could Alan Hartley tell me if there is an e-mail number I could write to point out a couple of (in my opinion) incorrect etymologies in the OED. Thank you.

Regards,

Dr M. Suleiman
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