Quapaw designation (fwd)

[Alan Hartley]

> I do Chickasaw topographical nomenclature, among other things, and while
> searching for something else I came across the following enigmatic
> designation for the Quapaw in Margry's Découverts... (1: 616): Savansa.
> According to the Handbook of NA Indians, this is the sole occurrence of
> such a name for them. It bears some resemblance to Miami-Illinois terms
> for the Quapaw tribe. Hodge in the earlier Handbook mentions a Quapaw
> gens name, Wasa, that could be the last two syllables of Savansa. Do you
> see anything that might suggest a possible Miami-Illinois source for
> calling the Quapaw Savansa?

In the Hdbk. of N. Amer. Indians (as distinct from Hodge's Hdbk. of
Amer. Indians) Doug Parks says (XIII.512) "An anomalous historical form,
Savansa, was recorded in 1684 as an alternate for Akansa, perhaps a
transcriptional error (Tonti in Margry 1876-1886, 1:616)." Given the
vagaries of ethnonym transcription and the lack of other examples, error
is a good bet.

Alan