Inspired by - USA
What’s in an American Name?
Posted by rod - 06.05.2009
Native American words echo in the names of lakes, rivers, mountains, states, cities, and small towns across the United States. The first settlers, who put many European words on the map, also borrowed names from local tribes. They often mispronounced what they heard—that’s how the Washoe word dá’aw, or lake, became Tahoe. In some cases they changed Indian terms so much that linguists can’t identify the original language or meaning. Laypeople have often stepped into the scholarly void with fanciful interpretations that have become part of American folklore. Chesapeake, for example, is sometimes translated as”great shellfish bay.” But no one knows what the word meant to the Indians who coined it. read more at Native Names, the Interactive Map. Graphic: Oliver Uberti, National Geographic. Found via neatorama.com
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