Just plain Prairie People

[David Costa]

I probably should have spoken up on this sooner...

First, the Illinois name for the Mascouten is phonemically something like
*/masko(o)teenta/ (the length on the 2nd V is unclear). This is seen in
forms from the old Jesuit Illinois dictionaries such as <masc8tenta>
(LeBoullenger & 'Gravier') and <mask8tenta> (Pinet).

However: there is no evidence that this means "Little Prarie People" within
Illinois, or, indeed, that it's any kind of diminutive at all. The old
Illinois initial for 'prairie' is indeed /maskotee-/ (modern Miami
/mahkotee-/), but the problem is that */masko(o)teenta/ does not contain any
recognizable Miami-Illinois diminutive suffix. In fact, the ending of this
name, the /-nta/ part, is not recognizable. It's reminiscent of the 3rd
person singular participial indefinite actor ('passive') ending /-enta/, but
/masko(o)tee-/ isn't a transitive animate stem, so it doesn't qualify to
take that ending. So the exact etymology of */masko(o)teenta/ is not clear.

However, considering how freely tribe names are shared back and forth among
Algonquian languages, it's highly likely that Miami-Illinois borrowed
*/masko(o)teenta/ from some neighboring Algonquian language, possibly the
Mascoutens themselves. That is, there might be some other neighboring
language where that ending is analyzable. Several similar names for the
Mascouten are given on pages 671-2 of HNAI, volume 15.

Now, alongside */masko(o)teenta/ there is another tribe name, old Illinois
/masko(o)tia/ 'Illinois' (<masc8tea>; again, the length on the 2nd V is
uncertain), which you cite below, and its modern Miami equivalent
/meehko(o)tiaki/ (plural), given by Trowbridge as 'Kaskaskias' (his original
form is <mekoateeaukee>). This latter form also has matches in a couple
neighbor languages, i.e., Sauk /ma$kooteewa/ 'Peoria', and Meskwaki
/ma$kooteewa/~/mee$kooteewa/, also 'Peoria'. ('$' = s-wedge) This name is
not attested in Miami-Illinois after the 1820's.

Clearly these forms all ultimately come from Proto-Algonquian */ma$kote:wi/
'prairie' in some way, but I don't see how the 'small prairie'/'big prairie'
analysis can be made to fit the linguistic evidence. Forms like Illinois
/masko(o)tia/ 'Illinois' and the Sauk/Meskwaki cognates very likely do have
an ultimate etymology 'prairie person', but there's no way to analyze
Illinois */masko(o)teenta/ 'Mascouten' as 'little prairie person'.

best, David


> I asked a while back if the Mascouten as "Little Prarie People" might be named
> in opposition to a "(Big) Prairie People" - "little people of the prairie" as
> opposed to "people of the little priarie"?

> I've noticed that Carl Masthay, in his Kaskaskia Illinois dictionary (p. 23)
> lists "Masc8tea = Illinois peuple 'Illinois, especially the Peoria' and
> "Masc8tenta = Masc8tins peuple '(people of the) small prairie (spoke dialect
> of Sauk-Fox-Kickapoo)."

> Would this be the requisite opposed term?

> John E. Koontz

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