Kansa, pecan, Arkansas

[Robert Myers]

I'd like to know how it's known that Kansa does not mean "south wind", "floats with the current," etc. My instinct is that's true but am not a linguist and am curious to learn the reasoning behind it.

I'm also interested in knowing more about any connection between Arkansas and pecan in Miami/Illinois. Bourgmont, in his "Exact Description of Louisiana" (circa 1725), after mentioning the Quapaw and ascending the Mississippi River, says, "There is also an abundance of nuts, extending over more than 200 leagues of land, called by the Indians Akansapaccana, from which they make oil to grease their hair and their firearms. But these nuts are found only in certain regions. There are a great many of them on the Wabash." Could early references to the Arkansas on the Ohio River be a folk explanation arising from the Miami/Illinois word for pecan? I'm curious.

Robert Myers
Champaign, IL

--- On Thu, 9/30/10, Rankin, Robert L <rankin at ku.edu> wrote:

> From: Rankin, Robert L <rankin at ku.edu>
> Subject: RE: Ocananhowan and Occaneechi
> To: siouan at lists.Colorado.EDU
> Date: Thursday, September 30, 2010, 3:40 PM
> I'd have to agree.  Add to this
> the fact that many tribal names have no identifiable
> historical meaning and are "interpreted" locally by folk
> etymology.  Many of these folk interpretations even
> become "official".  These include Baxoje 'Ioway'
> (supposedly meaning an unlikely "dusty noses" or "gray
> snow", take your pick), Kansa (supposedly meaning 'south
> wind' -- not), Ponca, Biloxi, Ofo, Otoe (supposedly meaning
> 'lovers of sexual pleasure'), etc., etc.  Such
> ethnonyms are very susceptible to folk guesswork; everybody
> including linguists want names to "mean something", but many
> are lost in the mists of time.  
> 
> (Please, no responses explaining to me that such names
> REALLY DO mean what people say they mean.  I'm aware of
> all the strong beliefs in this department.)
> 
> Wish I could be more optimistic.
> 
> Bob
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-siouan at lists.Colorado.EDU
> on behalf of Bryan James Gordon
> Sent: Thu 9/30/2010 2:44 AM
> To: siouan at lists.Colorado.EDU
> Subject: Re: Ocananhowan and Occaneechi
>  
> It's a stretch.
> 
> Given the word parts yu:xkan + ohon + hi wa, there would
> have to have been a
> lot of metathesis (rearranging the sounds) to get to the
> attested form
> "Ocananhowan".
> 
> My suspicions are also raised by the fact that the
> "Algonquian" form (which
> language?) starts with a similar first two syllables. That
> is a hint that,
> if they are from separate language families, one may be
> borrowed. And the
> beginning of that word does look Algonquian. But the end
> reminds me of Creek
> placenames in the Southeast, and many Creek words begin
> like these two words
> do, too.
> 
> The case for a Tutelo source would be helped if we had any
> reason to believe
> that certain Tutelo dialects would have dropped the "y" in
> "yu:xkan", or
> that certain English-speakers might have heard a Tutelo
> "yu:xkan" as "Ocan".
> 
> Just my nine cents.
> 
> - Bryan
> 
> 2010/9/30 Scott Collins <saponi360 at yahoo.com>
> 
> > Is the following correct information:
> >
> >  "Ocananhowan - Recorded by Smith, and later by
> Starchey. It has not been
> > decipherable in Algonquian. This is because the word
> is Siouan. Its
> > construction is derived from the Tutelo yu:xkan,
> "man," "person" + ohon,
> > "many" + hi wa, "come," "gather." Its meaning: "many
> people gather here." We
> > have seen the exact word before in Algonquian:
> Occaneechi, the place where
> > people gather." ----- "Roanoke" by Lee Miller Pg. 258
> & 259
> >
> >
> >
> 
>