The Composition of Indian Geographical Names - Illustrated from the Algonkin Languages by J. Hammond (James Hammond) Trumbull
page 30 of 83 (36%)
page 30 of 83 (36%)
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affix, shows that the idea of _abundance_ or of _multitude_ is
associated with it: "_ohke wadchuuhkontu[oo]_," i.e. _wadechué-kontu-[oo]_, "the land is a land of hills," that is, where are _many_ hills, or where hills are _plenty_. This form of verb was rarely used by Eliot and is not alluded to in his Grammar. It appears to have been less common in the Massachusetts than in most of the other Algonkin languages. In the Chippewa, an 'abundance verb,' as Baraga[47] calls it, may be formed from any noun, by adding _-ka_ or _-[)i]ka_ for the indicative present: in the Cree, by adding _-skow_ or _-ooskow_. In the Abnaki, _-ka_ or _-k[oo]_, or _-ik[oo]_, forms similar verbs, and verbals. The final _'tti_ of _ka[n]tti_, represents the impersonal _a'tté_, _eto_, 'there belongs to it,' 'there is there,' _il y a_. (Abn. _meskik[oo]i'ka[n]tti_, 'where there is abundance of grass,' is the equivalent of the Micmac "_m'skeegoo-aicadee_, a meadow."[48]) [Footnote 47: Otchipwe Grammar, pp. 87, 412.] [Footnote 48: Mr. Rand's Micmac Vocabulary, in Schoolcraft's Collections, vol. v. p. 579.] Among Abnaki place-names having this form, the following deserve notice:-- _A[n]mes[oo]k-ka[n]tti_, 'where there is plenty of _alewives_ or _herrings_;' from Abn. _a[n]ms[oo]ak_ (Narr. _aumsûog_; Mass. _ômmissuog_, cotton;) literally, 'small fishes,' but appropriated to fish of the herring tribe, including alewives and menhaden or bony-fish. Râle gives this as the name of one of the Abnaki villages |
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