On some alleged specimens of Indian Onomatopoeia. 181 



shee sheeb, and the Sliawnee see' see' halt, are names of a diving 

 bird, — literally, a duck. Compare, Lat. mergus horn. 7nergere ,' Dutch 

 duycker (a dob-chick) from duycken (to bow the head). 



The name ' ah ah wa, a diver, a kind of duck,' is less doubtfully ono- 

 matopteic. This bird is the totem of one of the principal families of 

 the Chippewa nation, from which have come some of their most 

 renowned sachems. 



Dr. Wilson supposes that the '*' Pau-jxm-say, the common spotted 

 woodpecker," is so called " from the sound it makes in striking a tree 

 with its bill." Perhaps so; but, to uncultivated ears, the name does 

 not so exactly reproduce the sound as to compel belief in its mimetic 

 origin. He describes the woodpecker as " spotted." Wliy may not 

 the Indian have fixed upon the same distinguishing mark? Paupatc 

 say is the Saganaw name. In the Menomenie, we find pah pah nch 

 for the woodpecker, pah pah nay eio for the robin, and pahpe quoh 

 kah for the toad. In the Chippewa, paA be Jco dain' dai is the " speck- 

 led toad " {dain-dal meaning ' toad ' or ' frog '). In the Delaware, pa 

 pa chees (as Zeisberger wrote it), is 'woodpecker,' and popocus, 

 'partridge,' or quail. In the Abnaki, the verb pepesagh i gon signi- 

 fies 'he is spotted'' (" il est mouchete," Rasles). The modern Cree, 

 papa tay oo, has the same meaning. If paupau say is onomatopoeic, 

 it is certainly descriptive, as well, — and marks a ' spotted ' bird. 



" Moosh-kah-oos, a kind of crane which frequents marshy places, 

 " and makes tliis sound, with a choking cry, in the evening." Moosh- 

 kah-oos, or mooshkowese, is the Chippewa name of the bittern {Ardea 

 lentiginosa). " Frequenting marshy places," it derives its name from 

 Chip. maJis Icoosch, ' a marsh or bog,' or nioos-keeg, ' a swamp,' — both 

 words being nearly related to mnsh-koo-deh, a meadow or prairie, and 

 more remotely to Chip, mush koos ieio or mezh usk, ' green grass.' 



Why " No-no-no-caus-ee^'' as a name for the Humming Bird, is put 

 among specimens of onomatopoeia, is not easily guessed. Was it sup- 

 posed to ' imitate ' the little creature's length of bill ? No polysylla- 

 bic name in any American language is less doubtfully synthetic and 

 independently significant. The root nok, or nonk (with on nasal), is 

 nearly equivalent to the Latin tener. It means ' tender,' ' delicate,' 

 'soft;' hence, 'light of weight' (levis), 'slender,' and sometimes, 

 'young.' Roger Williams translates nduk-i, by 'light.' Cotton's 

 Vocabulary has nonk-ke, and (as a prefix or in composition) nonk-, 

 for 'light.' Eliot wrote 7ioohk-i [it is], tender, or soft ; with an ani- 

 mate subject, noohk-esii, [he is J tender, or soft, — applied to the flesh 

 of a young animal, as in Genesis xviii. 7 : and in composition, he 



