J. Hammond Trumbull

“ Nearly every geographical name has been mutilated or has suffered change. It would indeed be strange if Indian polysyntheses, with their frequent gutturals and nasals, adopted from unwritten languages and by those who were ignorant of their meanings, had been exempted from the phonetic change to which all language is subject, as a result of the universal disposition "to put more facile in the stead of more difficult sounds or combination of sounds, and to get rid altogether of what is unnecessary in the words we use." ”

“ Potter, residing within the Borough, gave orders to assemble all the officers and men under his command that could be immediately collected. They cheerfully and quickly assembled, animated with the true spirit of patriotism. The ammunition for our two 18-pounders and 4-pounder was collected at the little breast-work erected by ourselves. The citizens of the Borough, assisted by two strangers from Massachusetts, manned the 18-pounders at the breast-work, and also the 4-pounder. One cause of discouragement, only, seemed to prevail, which was the deficiency of ammunition for the cannon. ”

“ Nearly all have suffered some mutilation or change of form. In many instances, hardly a trace of true original can be detected in the modern name. Some have been separated from the localities to which they belonged, and assigned to others to which they are etymologically inappropriate. A mountain receives the name of a river; a bay, that of a cape or a peninsula; a tract of land, that of a rock or a waterfall. And so 'Massachusetts' and 'Connecticut' and 'Narragansett' have come to be proper names, as truly as 'Boston' and 'Hartford' are in their cis-Atlantic appropriation. ”

“ Where the difference of forms is considerable, knowledge of the character and opportunities of the writer may sometimes determine the preference of one form to others, as probably the most accurate. A Massachusetts or Connecticut name written by John Eliot or Experience Mayhew—or by the famous interpreter, Thomas Stanton—may safely be assumed to represent the original combination of sounds more exactly than the form given it by some town-recorder, ignorant of the Indian language and who perhaps did not always write or spell his own correctly. ”

“ On Tuesday afternoon of the 9th inst. anchored off our harbor, the frigate Pactolus, the Terror, a bomb ship, and the brig Dispatch of 20 guns. From the difficulty of the navigation in Fisher's Island Sound, we have been generally impressed that such ships of war dare not approach us; but the presumption of the enemy has created new fears, and we think it our duty to say, that further means of defence and protection ought to be afforded us; this we have often requested. ”

“ In our own language, such forms may hold their places by prescriptive right or force of custom, and names absolutely unmeaning, or applied without regard to their original meaning, are accepted by common consent as the distinguishing marks of persons and places. We call a man William or Charles, Jones or Brown,—or a town, New Lebanon, Cincinnati, Baton Rouge, or Big Bethel—just as we put a number on a policeman's badge or on a post-office box, or a trademark on an article of merchandise ”

“ In early deeds and conveyances in the colonial and in local records, we find the same river, lake, tract of land or bound-mark named sometimes in the Muhhekan, sometimes in the Narragansett, or Niantic, or Nipmuck, or Connecticut valley, or Quinnipiac (Quiripee) dialect. The adopted name is often extra-limitary to the tribe by which it was given. Often, it is a mixture of, or a sort of compromise between, two dialects; half Muhhekan, half Narragansett or Nipmuck. In the form in which it comes to us, we can only guess from what language or languages it has been corrupted. ”

“ The few drafted militia which had been sometime stationed there, under command of Lieutenant Hough, were placed in the best directions to give an alarm in case a landing should be attempted. During the night the volunteers and militia had assembled in considerable numbers; and the non-combatant inhabitants had generally removed to the neighboring farm-houses, in the momentary expectation of seeing their abandoned dwellings in flames. It was a night of inexpressible anguish to many a widow and orphan, to many aged and infirm, whose little pittance they were now apparently to lose forever. ”

“ Remembering that every letter or sound had its value,—if, in the analysis of a name, it becomes necessary to get rid of a troublesome consonant or vowel by assuming it to have been introduced 'for the sake of euphony,'—it is probable that the interpretation so arrived at is not the right one.
5. The components of every place-name—or to speak more generally, the elements of every Indian synthesis are [Pg 47] significant roots, not mere fractions of words arbitrarily selected for new combinations. ”

“ John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson—Their elevation to the first offices of our government, will demonstrate that sovereignty is yet with the people, and guarantee the defence of our national rights, whether assailed by the pen or the sword. ”

“ But in American languages, the diversity of dialects is even more remarkable than the identity and constancy of roots. Every tribe, almost every village had its peculiarities of speech. Names etymologically identical might have widely different meanings in two languages, or even in two nations speaking substantially the same language. The eastern Algonkin generic name for 'fish' (nâma-us, Del. namai-s) is restricted by northern and western tribes to a single species, the sturgeon (Chip. namai ́,) as the fish, par excellence. ”

“ Again—every Indian name is complete within itself. A mere adjectival or qualificative cannot serve independently, leaving the real ground-word to be supplied by the hearer. River names must contain some element which denotes 'river;' names of lakes or ponds something which stands for 'lake' or 'pond.' The Indians had not our fashion of speech which permits Hudson's River to be called 'the Hudson,' drops the word 'lake' from 'Champlain' or 'Erie,' and makes "the Alleghanies" a geographical name. This difference [Pg 49] must not be lost sight of, in analysis or translation. ”

“ During this time the brig was working up towards the Point, and soon after sunrise came to anchor, short of half a mile from the battery, (or more correctly, the breastwork) . Our ammunition being soon exhausted, the guns were spiked, and the men who fought them, being only about 15 or 20, [5] retired, leaving them behind for want of strength to drag them off.
The brig now continued deliberately to pour her 32 pound shot and grape into the Village, without our having the power of returning a shot, for an hour, and the bomb ketch occasionally threw in shells. ”

“ In those parts of the country where Indian languages are still spoken, the analysis of such names is comparatively easy. Chippewa, Cree, or (in another family) Sioux-Dakota geographical names may generally be translated with as little difficulty as other words or syntheses in the same languages. In New England, and especially in our part of New England, the case is different. [Pg 44] We can hardly expect to ascertain the meaning of all the names which have come down to us from dead languages of aboriginal tribes. Some of the obstacles to accurate analysis have been pointed out. ”

“ Industry.—Many of our readers will recollect the anecdote of the thrifty American who asked Commodore Hardy, when he would attack Stonington again? so that he might have his cart ready to carry off the shot; and also the accounts we have had of the mighty mass of metal collected there and sold at New York, &c. It seems, however, that the iron mine is not yet exhausted, for certain persons with a diving machine [Pg 53] have raised no less than 11,209 lbs. of shot, which was thrown overboard from the Pactolus, when she was in such a hurry to get away from the two guns of Stonington! ”

“ In one form, we have wulik-hannésipu, 'best rapid-stream long-river;' in the other, wuliké-sipu, 'best long-river.' Heckewelder's derivation of the name, on the authority of a Delaware legend, from the mythic 'Alligewi' or 'Talligewi,'—"a race of Indians said to have once inhabited that country," who, after great battles fought in pre-historic times, were driven from it by the all-conquering Delawares, [23] —is of no value, unless supported by other testimony. ”

“ The volunteers who so gloriously fought in the battery, deserve the thanks of their country. No men could have done better. Their example will have the happiest influence.
About forty buildings are more or less injured, 8 or 10 essentially so; and two or three may be considered as ruined. The damage was principally done by the brig. Many shells did not explode, several were extinguished. The Congreve Rockets which were frightful at first, lost their terrors, and effected little. ”

“ The same name may be found, in early records, written in a dozen different ways, and some three or four of these may admit of as many different translations. Indian grammatical [Pg 37] synthesis was exact. Every consonant and every vowel had its office and its place. Not one could be dropped or transposed, nor could one be added, without change of meaning. Now most of the Indian local names were first written by men who cared nothing for their meaning and knew nothing of the languages to which they belonged. ”