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NUWC Place Names Slides

UNCLASSIFIED talk given at Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC), Division Newport, RI for Native American Heritage Month on Indian Contributions & Indian place names, 2009.
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100% found this document useful (2 votes)
184 views22 pages

NUWC Place Names Slides

UNCLASSIFIED talk given at Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC), Division Newport, RI for Native American Heritage Month on Indian Contributions & Indian place names, 2009.
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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In celebration of

Dr. Frank O’Brien


Special Emphasis Program Manager
(American Indian/Alaskan Native)
Code 2531
Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Newport, RI

November 30, 2009
1
Hardcopy Handout

Contributions of the
New England Indians to America
• GOVERNMENT
• MILITARY
• CONSERVATION
• CHILD REARING
• INDIAN DEVICES
• FOOD AND RELATED
• MEDICINE AND RELATED
• ANIMAL NAMES, PLACE NAMES AND RELATED
• MISCELLANEOUS

2
INDIAN PLACE NAMES
SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND

Toponymy
Study of “place names”

3
Basic Assumption

• “…[T]he Indian aimed at extreme precision. His words were so constructed as to


be thoroughly self-defining and immediately intelligible to the hearer”.
 J. H. Trumbull, “On the Best Method of Studying the North American Languages,” 1869-
1870, p. 78.

 All Indian languages of the region were oral, recorded by missionaries, and now
are extinct

4
Eastern Algonquian Indian Languages—in Green
Ojibwa is most complicated language in the world

5
SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND TRIBES

6
Longest Word Known

The following 61-letter word is from Natick-Massachusett. Standard


pronunciation guides are included.

nup-pahk-nuh-tô-pe-pe-nau-wut-chut-chuh-quô-ka-neh-cha-neh-cha-e-nin-nu-
mun-nô-n o k

Translation: “our well-skilled looking-glass makers.”


• Trumbull 1903 Natick Dictionary

7
Indian Bible –1663, 1685 (2nd ed.)
The primary source for vocab. & gram.
of regional languages

8
Indian Grammar—1666

• Polysynthetc languagebasis for place name analysis

9
A Key into the Language of America –
1643
Narragansett language—good for speech patterns

10
Translation-Transcription Difficulty

The patient was diagnosed with an advanced case of

PNEUMONOULTRAMICROSCOPICSILICOVOLCANOCONIOSIS.

Say what ! ?

• The average Colonist hearing the Indian languages must have


faced similar obstacles in trying to translate & transcribe
Indian Place Names

11
Examples of Corruption

ORIGINAL CORRUPTED
INDIAN PLACE NAME MODERN SPELLING
Wannemetonomy Tammy, Tommony

Mashenupsuck Snipsic

Oggusse-paugsuck Oxyboxy

Tomheganompskut Higganum

Wequapaugset Boxet

12
Place Name Categories

• The vast majority of regional Indian place names denote land or


country, waterway, fishing-place, hill and mountain, stone and
rock, natural or man-made enclosure, and island.

• To these elemental features are added modifiers of size,
number, quality and locatives (and other grammatical features),
and of course, intertribal dialectical (phonetic & semantic)
variations.

13
Steps in Translation Process

Connecticut → quinni-tuk-ut = on the long tidal river

1. Obtain oldest spelling of name—deed, historical document, etc.


2. Analyze deeds & other documents for possible clues to meaning, and
ascertain the language/dialect
3. Linguistic decomposition—noise discrimination, signal recovery
4. Correlate the translation with known information on possible meaning
of name

14
Aquidneck
Narragansett Language

Aquidneck

aquidn- -eck

ahquedne = -ick = in, on, at


island
Ahquedne-ick =
Aquidnick
On some kind of
island

HIGH SIGNAL

15
Mattaposiett
Massachusett Language

Mattapoisett

mattapo -is- -ett

mattappu = -es- = little -et = at, near


he sits/rests

Mattapu-es-et=
Mattapuset
A little resting
place

MODERATE SIGNAL

16
Swampscott
Massachusett Language

Swampscott

sw- -ampsc- -ott

musqui = red -ompsk- = -ut = at


standing rock

musqui-ompsk-ut =
musquompskut
At the red rock

LOW SIGNAL

17
Canopaug
Massachusett Language

Canopaug

cano- -paug

qunni = paug =
long lake, pond

qunni - paug =
qunnapaug
Long pond

MODERATE SIGNAL

18
Examples

19
Reference

Glossary of Indian Place Names


in
Southern New England
   
List of Root Words

• https://www.scribd.com/doc/299351774/Glossary-of-Indian-
Place-Name-Roots
• Let’s go have a look on the WWW

20
Other References

• https://www.scribd.com/user/71256581/Frank-Waabu-O-Brien-D
r-Francis-J-O-Brien-Jr
• This Internet website has many free documents
on Indians of Southern New England—culture, language &
bibliography

21
? ? ? ? Questions ? ? ? ?
Taûbotne
⊗⊗⊗⊗
Thank you

Wunniísh !
⊗⊗⊗⊗
(Let your journey be good !)

22

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