Historical questions

[David Costa]

> Thanks, David!  That's a big help!  Is there a reference or anything for
> Michael's article?

Well, Michael himself might want to provide this, but he could be offline
due to the holidays, so it is:

Michael McCafferty. 2003. 'On the Birthday and Etymology of the Placename
Missouri'. Names 51.2 (June 2003): 31-45.

Michael discusses this name in much more historical detail in his article,
but the general connection between 'Missouri' and /mihsoori/ has been
recognized for quite some time. It's mentioned on page 461 of HNAI volume
13, but it was known way before that as well. I have no idea who might have
mentioned it in print first. Maybe Michael would know?

David