Mexico, Indiana and Some Siouan place names

[Michael Mccafferty]

Here's the story on Mexico, Indiana, and it is a rather unique one locally
in its Miami language form, which Dave noted. The name was created for the
Indiana village by English-speaking American settlers in 1834 to celebrate
the independence of Mexico from Spain. At a time when the Miami language
was still quite alive in Indiana, the Miami appear to have translated
"Mexico" into their own term for the country. Hence, the coincidence.

Dave also mentioned Jalapa, Indiana. From Nahuatl /Sa:la:paN/
'sandwater-in'. It's a Mexican-American war time creation from the late
1840s.

In addition to its many place names created by local native peoples,
Indiana also has a truly vast array of native place names that were
borrowed into the local English-speaking namescape from tribes that did
not live here. Northern Iroquoian place names are the most numerous of
this type.

The ostensibly Siouan ones include:

Anoka, Winona, and the translation Red Cloud.


Michael McCafferty


On Wed, 24 Jul 2002, Michael Mccafferty wrote:

> Quite likely. Yes.
>
> On Tue, 23 Jul 2002, David Costa wrote:
>
> >
> > >> Amusingly, Albert Gatschet's notes point out that the Miami name for the
> > >> town of Mexico, Indiana (I have no idea why it's called that) was
> > >> /iihpaawalonki/, literally 'place of Mexicans', the same as the Miami name
> > >> for the country.
> > >
> > > It probably means what it says and is likely a "new" Miami place name,
> > > post diaspora.
> >
> > Oh, I know. I'm assuming Mexico, Indiana got its name around the same time
> > as for the same reasons as the nearby Peru, Indiana (location of the office
> > of the Miami Nation of Indiana), Chili, Indiana, and Jalapa, Indiana.
> >
> > David
> >
> >
> >
>
>
> Michael McCafferty
> 307 Memorial Hall
> Indiana University
> Bloomington, Indiana
> 47405
> mmccaffe at indiana.edu
>
> "Talking is often a torment for me, and I
> need many days of silence to recover from the futility of words.
>                                                        C.G. Jung
>
> "...as a dog howls at the moon, I talk."
>                                     Rumi
>
>
>
>
>


Michael McCafferty
307 Memorial Hall
Indiana University
Bloomington, Indiana
47405
mmccaffe at indiana.edu

"When you eventually see through the veils to how things really are, you
will keep saying again and again, "This is certainly not like we thought
it ".

--Rumi