(O)maha

[Michael McCafferty]

Quoting "R. Rankin" <rankin at ku.edu>:

> > I take it we can assume that Shawnee is not a particularly likely source
> > for Marquette's Maha listing - more likely Ojibwe or Miami-Illinois?  I'm
> > not aware of any of the relevant or even irrelevant Siouan languages
> > having any problems with initial vowels, short or long.
>
> He acquired the tribal name for his map while exploring the Mississippi.
> There's no telling how many tribes the name might have filtered through
> before
> getting to the Illinois Algonquians.

The Peoria and other MI groups, including the Moingwena and the Wea, were
transmissippian (that is, *west* trans) inhabitants for a couple of
generations, as were other MI groups off and on throughout the mid-1600s. It
was, of course, a nice, safe residential option that satisfied the Iroquois,
although it's not clear how these groups related to their Siouan neighbors,
aside from the Missouria.

Michael




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