Michigamea (Re: (O)maha)

[Koontz John E]

On Mon, 29 Mar 2004, Rankin, Robert L wrote:
> I really can't take credit for any of John's very thorough analysis.  I
> may have noted the resemblance of one or two of the words, but he's the
> one who has done all the work.

Bob pulled out the plums, I gnawed the pits to death.

> I don't know what to make of Michigamea, such as it is.  It's too bad we
> can't come up with just a few more words/phrases.  That could be the
> clincher.

I've always wanted to wrap this one up better, but I've never been able to
get hold of a French version of Jean-Benard Bossu's narrative.  You never
know what's been left out, added, corrected, or what not in translations.
Without something like the original there's not much I can do.  I did comb
through the English version I had extracts of, looking for other material,
but everything else was actually Miami-Illinois, right up through chief
Papape Changouias (from memory).  Maybe a few MI subtribal names that
occur only a few times were obscure, but I think David Costa was able to
make sense of most them, even such promisingly Siouan-looking forms as
Moingoina (if moiNkwena).

JEK