The Beauty of Our Native Tongue by Rob Kyff on Creators.com

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The Beauty of Our Native Tongue

"Rappahannock." "Allagash." "Monongahela." Were there ever three more beautiful words for rivers?

All three names (for rivers in Virginia, Maine and Pennsylvania, respectively) derive from Native American words. "I know not a language spoken in Europe," wrote William Penn of Native American speech, "that hath words of more sweetness or greatness, in accent or emphasis, than theirs."

English speakers encountering Native American words sometimes adopted them virtually verbatim. More often, they shortened, reshaped and Anglicized these terms to conform to familiar English sounds and spellings.

The Micmacs' "maccaribpoo" ("one who paws the snow"), for instance, became "caribou," while the Algonquian "arakunem" ("creature that scratches with its hands") became "raccoon."

Such altered Native American words provide us with a rich source of many common English words. Can you match each English word with its Native American source?

English words:

1) opossum 2) Sequoia 3) caucus 4) succotash 5) squash 6) hickory 7) quahog 8) skunk 9) hominy 10) menhaden (type of fish) 11) muskrat 12) terrapin 13) toboggan 14) chipmunk 15) woodchuck

Native American words:

A) segankw B) poquauhock C) cawcawwassoughes D) munnawhattecug E) atchitamon F) ockqutchaun G) pawcohiccora H) askutasquash I) rokahamen J) aposoum K) torope L) tobakun M) Sikwayi N) msickquatash O) musquash

Answers:

1) J.

aposoum (Powhatan for "white animal") 2) M. Sikwayi (name of a Cherokee chief) 3) C. cawcawwassoughes (Algonquian for "one who advises") 4) N. msickquatash (Narragansett for "boiled corn kernels") 5) H. askutasquash (Narragansett for "squash")

6) G. pawcohiccora (Algonquian for "food prepared from pounded nuts") 7) B. poquauhock (Narragansett for "clam") 8) A. segankw (Algonquian for "he who urinates") 9) I. rokahamen (Algonquian for "pounded meal grain") 10) D. munnawhattecug (Narragansett for "that which enriches the soil")

11) O. musquash (Massachusett for "muskrat") 12) K. torope (Algonquian for "turtle") 13) L. tobakun (Micmac for "sled made of skins") 14) E. atchitamon (Chippewa for "head first" because these critters like to descend trees head first) 15) F. ockqutchaun (Narragansett for "woodchuck")

Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Conn., invites your language sightings. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via e-mail to Wordguy@aol.com or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 5777 W. Century Blvd., Suite 700, Los Angeles, CA 90045. To find out more about Rob Kyff and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.