Michigamea is not Dhegiha (Re: Quappa)

[Koontz John E]

On Thu, 22 Sep 2005 mmccaffe at indiana.edu wrote:
> We know that the m of Akamsea is a mistake made by a copyist, since Marquette
> writes Akansea on his holograph map of the Mississippi.

I assumed the variant was insignificant.  I tried to stay with Thwaites'
spellings in quoting him, and I think I tended to generalize Akamsea.
Akansea is correct, of course.  I did tend to gibe strongly as Thwaites'
spelling Ilinois!

> Marquette, previous to the Mississippi voyage, had spent two and half
> years working with an Illinois boy held as a slave by the Ojibwa. I
> imagine, given his track record with Algonquian languages, that he was
> fairly conversant in Miami-Illinois by the time he descended the big
> river. Certainly the few words from that language that he transcribed,
> on his Mississippi map and in his autograph narration of his second trip
> to the Illinois, are nicely done.

So he probably distinguished Miami-Illinois from other Algonquian
languages?

> It is never stated explicitly that Marquette knew Huron.

Actually, that's a good point.  Marquette doesn't say who spoke Huron.
Given comments earlier on Jolliet knowing the languages needed for
operations in French Canada - I forget exactly how this was phrased - it
may have been he who spoke Huron.  It would be interesting to know what
the six languages Marguette meant were, but I think we can assume that
none were Siouan, though he does seem to have spent some time with people
at the Bay of the Puants, which may imply contact with the Winnebago.