Missouri, etc.

[David Costa]

>>> 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'.

> 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/). This is
> Miami-Illinois /peekihtanwi/, a third-person inanimate intransitive conjunct
> verb that has undergone initial change (/piik-/ > /peek-/ ).

Yes, and also Gravier's Illinois <pekitan8i> 'eau borbeuse. Riviere Mis8ri'.
Though one big problem with a Miami-Illinois /peekihtanwi/ is that it should
NOT have undergone initial change, since it's an independent verb. It
'should' be */piikihtanwi/.

Dave