Linguistic term needed

[Michael Mccafferty]

One possible case of paronomasia in Indiana occurred when the
Potawatomi apparently borrowed an established Miami name for Lake
Maxinkukee.

The Miami name is /meenkahsenahkiki/ 'it is big stone land' (referring to
glacier-transported boulders). Phonetically, this is [meengahsenahkiki]

The Potawatomi called the lake /m at gz@nk at kik/ 'at the shoe land;.

(@ = schwa)


The other one that comes to mind has a stranger story. The Miami name for
the west fork of the White River in Indiana, a longlived term first
collected by La Salle in the 1680s (though he never saw the river) and
still used by the Miami in the early 1900s is /waapikami(i)ki/ '(it is)
white water'. When the Unami settled in what is now Indiana in the last
couple of decades of the 1700s, they referred to the river as
/0:p:i:k:ami':k:a/ 'that which is a white house'. (0= open o).

This would seem like an open-and-shut case of paronomasia. Problem is, the
French were referring to the White River by 1748 as "la Maison blanche".
Tricky.

Michael


>
> On Mon, 12 Apr 2004, Wallace Chafe wrote:
>
> > Are these also paronomasia? I've heard that the Oneidas in Wisconsin refer
> > to Swedes with the Oneida word for "sweet". And they used to refer to
> > Lounsbury with their word for "lunch".
> > --Wally
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
> "Those are my principles.
> If you don't like them,
> I have others."
>
> -Groucho Marx
>
>
> "When I was born I was
> so surprised that I didn't
> talk for a year and a half."
>
> -Gracie Allen
>
>
>

"Those are my principles.
If you don't like them,
I have others."

-Groucho Marx


"When I was born I was
so surprised that I didn't
talk for a year and a half."

-Gracie Allen