Missouri, etc.

[Koontz John E]

On Sat, 3 Jan 2004, Michael McCafferty wrote:
> >1.  The earliest French name for the Missouri River is Pekitanoui.  Does
> >anyone know where that comes from or what it means?  Is it Algonquian?
>
> Yes. Note Fox /pi:kihtanwi/ 'Missouri River' and Menominee /pe:ke?tanoh/
> (loc.) 'on or at the Missouri River'. The term appears to mean 'Muddy
> River'; compare Plains Cree /pi:kan/ & /pi:ka:kamiw/ 'it is turbid, muddy',
> and /pi:kano(:wi)-si:piy/ 'muddy river, Missouri river'.

I should have pointed out that this is a calque (or vice versa) of Siouan
names for the river, cf. OP niN s^ude (and so on in other Siouan
languages) 'smoky (turbid) water'.

> MM: The first recording of an Algonquian name for the Missouri River was
> done on either June 25 or June 26, 1673, by Jacques Marquette during his
> stopover at the Peoria village on the Des Moines River. We can see the
> hydronym that the Peoria, a Miami-Illinois-speaking tribe, gave him on
> his holograph map of the Mississippi. Marquette wrote <PEKITTAN8I> (8 =
> the sound /w/). ...