4 messages concerning Wyoming and Nebraska.------------Johnnie
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Wed, 13 Apr 94 11:05:22 EDT
[log in to unmask] (Ben Marsh)
Re: Naming Wyoming
Wyoming, the "two Delaware words 'mecheweami-ing' meaning at the big
flats" (per Steve Rogers) refers to the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania
-- anthracite coal region and site of Wilkes-Barre and Scranton.
Using a Delaware name for a western state makes sense only through the
magical intermediacy of politics: a Senator from northeastern
Pennsylvania got his valley's name put onto the western state.
Politics and the Wyoming Valley go together like fleas and a dog; this
is the home of Steam Town USA (the Banal National Park), and Daniel
Flood who was re-elected to Congress after his conviction (for
extortion?). "He's OUR crook."
I am the font of trivial facts about Pennsylvania; beg me to stop.
. Ben Marsh .
. Department of Geography Take only endos .
. Bucknell University Leave only faceprints .
. [log in to unmask] .
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Wed, 13 Apr 94 12:14 EDT
"Jerry Mahun" <[log in to unmask]>
Re: Naming Wyoming
Wyoming was actually named by settlers from the Wyoming Valley in PA (Wilkes-
Barre - Scranton area). It was said that when they went west and settled in
present day Wyoming they were reminded of the Wyoming Valley they had come
from. As for the origin of the name of the Wyoming Valley, I believe that it
originally comes from an Indian term for the area (I'm not a native of PA
but have been reading up a little on this area).
Jerry Mahun
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Wed, 13 Apr 1994 09:36:23 -0500 (CDT)
Bryan Stack <[log in to unmask]>
Re: Naming Wyoming (and Nebraska)
Charley Seavey wrote:
> One of my students is under the impression that Wyoming is actually
> a made up name- has no relationship to anything in that area.
> I hadn't heard that one before, so I thought I'd throw it out to
> the assembled hordes.
There is a town in Pennsylvania called Wyoming; I believe it was
established before the name Wyoming was applied to the territory/state.
The comment someone made about the name being of Delaware origin would be
consistent with this.
> For that matter, how about Nebraska?
> Anyone know the real origins of these placenames?
Lilian Fitzpatrick, in Nebraska Place-Names (p. 178-9), includes the
following in her commentary on the Platte River:
"The Otoe called it Ni brathka; ni, 'water'; brathka, 'flat': 'Flat Water.'
"The Omaha name closely resembles the Otoe, a related language. In the
Omaha language the name is Ni bthaska ke, and is so used in the Twenty-
Seventh Annual Report of the American Bureau of Ethnology. M. R. Gilmore
says:
According to Omaha usage it would be quite proper to add the
descriptive particle ke, but actually I have not heard it so, but
simply Ni bthaska (Flat River), but it is quite possible that ke
might be added sometimes.
"The Omaha name Ni bthaska ke is derived from ni, 'water' or 'river,' and
bthaska, 'flat'; ke denotes a horizontal position, and with stream names
it conveys the idea of a stream flowing through or spreading over its low
flood plain. The name is thus translated 'Flat Water' or 'Flat River.'
"Both Omaha and Otoe names embody some reference to the valley through
which the river flows. Viewed from a distance, the stream in the wide,
low valley has the appearance of being flat in distinction to streams
intrenched in narrow valleys. The idea in the aboriginal mind was that of
a wide stream flowing through a wide and low flood plain. The implication
of shallowness is not contained in the name of the stream, but rather that
of flatness or levelness of the water in conjunction with the bordering
flood plain. The Omaha name Ni bthaska, and the Otoe Ni brathka, are
easily recognized in corrupted form in the name of our state, Nebraska."
(Lilian L. Fitzpatrick, Nebraska Place-Names, including selections from
The Origin of the Place-Names of Nebraska by J. T. Link; edited, with an
introduction, by G. Thomas Fairclough. Lincoln, NE : Univ. of Nebraska
Press / Bison Books, c1960.)
---
Bryan Stack <[log in to unmask]>
Government Documents Librarian, University of Nebraska at Omaha
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Wed, 13 Apr 1994 13:20:36 -0500 (CDT)
Eric Speas <[log in to unmask]>
Re: Origin of Wyoming and Nebraska
On Tue, 12 Apr 1994, Stephen W Rogers wrote:
(major portion deleted)
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> p.s. ...the state of Ohio is named after the Ohio River...
Steve,
So how did the Ohio River get its name (high in the middle and round at
both ends?)
Eric
Go Blue!!!
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