Indian Place Names in Alabama

PREFACE

PREFACE This study deals with the origin and meaning of Indian geographic names in Alabama. It records the pronunciation only of those names on which reasonably trustworthy data could be obtained. It does not include a detailed history either of aboriginal place names in Alabama or of the tribes that formerly inhabited the state. Its primary aim is linguistic; hence it is not concerned with such names as Colbert and McIntosh, which, though borne by prominent Indians, are manifestly not of Indian origin. Nor does it deal with novel and artificial forms, examples of which are Abanda, Aladocks, Alaflora, Alaga, Alco, Falco, Flomaton, Florala, Newala, and Norala; or with modern importations from various Indian tongues that were unknown to the Alabama tribes. Some of these imported names are Chetopa , Cohasset, Cuba, Eutaw, Havana, Idaho, Java, Keego, Kiowa, Klondyke [sic], Manila, Manistee, Maricopa, Mattawana, Nenemoosha , Neshota, Nokomis, Nyota [sic], Oneonta, Orono, and fully a dozen more. During the preparation of this monograph I have drawn freely on the publications of my predecessors in the field, and I have received help from many persons. But as I have long been familiar with a number of Indian dialects, I am obviously unable now to recall every specific instance of my indebtedness. My special thanks I know to be due to Mr. Peter A. Brannon, Curator of the Alabama Department of Archives and History, for generous aid on every phase of my subject; to Dr. John R. Swanton, of the Bureau of American Ethnology, for the analysis of several difficult names; to Professor Roland M. Harper, of the University of Alabama, for timely notes on elusive local pronunciations ; to Miss Lila May Chapman, Director of the Birmingham Public Library, for the transcript of an article published many years ago in the Birmingham Age-Herald; and finally, to Mrs. L. E. Pirkle, Secretary of the Department of English, Louisiana State University, for assistance in the correction of the proofs of my manuscript. WILLIAM A. READ Louisiana State University September 23, 1936 ix ...