Tywappity Bottoms

[Michael Mccafferty]

I'm concerned that we're getting somewhat far afield in the analysis of
this name, but let me just add something that seems somewhat relevant. The
Miami-Illinois initial /oonsaa-/ 'yellow' was originally recorded by the
French without the first syllable in the name for a stream in Indiana. In
other words, the native name for the stream is /oonsaalamooni/ but the
first known recording of this hydronym by the French, from the mid-1700s,
is < Salamani >. As you can see the /oon-/ was left off. This is not
expected. I should add that <Ze-wa-pe-ta> would not be Miami-Illinois,
however, since "wapiti" is not the term in that language for 'elk'. In
Miami-Illinois word for 'elk' is /mih$iiweewa/ (older form) and
/mih$iiwia/ (later form).  Perhaps your place name, Alan, is Algonquian,
though, and represents another instance where an European recorder
lopped off the front end of "yellow".

Michael

On Sun, 14 Mar 2004, Alan Hartley wrote:

> Thanks, Michael.
>
> > Given the date that "Ze-wa-pe-ta" was transcribed, it is most likely a
> > word written down by an English speaker. Therefore, the final -a of
> > "Za-wa-pe-ta" is probably /i/. As you probably know, English speakers
> > commonly heard native /i/ as /e/ and then wrote the latter vowel as an a
> > in keeping with the pronunciation of the first letter of the alphabet.
> > This would be why "Tywappety" has a y at the end. In other words, there
> > *is* a neat correspondence between, at least, the end of those two words.
> >
> > In this connection, the penultimate -e- in both terms is probably /i/,
> > reflecting the pronunciation of E is in the English alphabet.
> > So, the last three syllables of this place name are probably
> > /-wa(a)pi(i)ti(i)/.
>
> Which suggests the Algonquian 'white-rump' word for 'elk'. Shawnee
> wa:piti, would be a good candidate, given their occupation of SE
> Missouri at about the time Tywappity Bottoms was settled by
> Euro-Americans. But, about the first syllable...
>
> Alan
>
>
>