HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF THE BILOXI AND OFO 

 By John R. Swanton 



THE BILOXI 



The name of this tribe, as first suggested by Mr. Mooney, is evi- 

 dently a corruption of that by which they call themselves, "Ta'neks 

 a'^'ya," or "Ta'neks a^ya'di," and Dorsey states that this "agrees with 

 the laws of Siouan consonant changes {t to ^, and n to d and Z)," "■ 

 though its present form is due rather to a metamorphosis undergone 

 in being taken over into the Mobilian trade language. This is indi- 

 cated perhaps by Iberville in speaking of ' ' the Annocchy , whom the 

 Bayogoula called 'Bilocchy.""' The t was probably pronounced 

 very lightly. Regarding the signification of Ta'neks a'^'ya Dorsey 

 says, "Taneks is apparently related to tcini^ 'to be in advance of 

 another,' and ta^niki, 'first.' The second word, a'^ya'di^ means 'peo- 

 ple.' The whole name, therefore, may be translated, First People. 

 This reminds us of the name by which the Winnebago Indians call 

 themselves, 'Hotcaugara,' First Speech, in which tcanga is a variant 

 of a word signifying ' first. '"'^ 



The size of this tribe and the place occupied by it in the history of 

 the Gulf region were very insignificant, yet from many points of view 

 its career verges on the romantic. There is no mention of Biloxi 

 or Annocch}^ in any of the De Soto narratives, and indeed the region 

 where they were found in later days was some distance from the route 

 which De Soto followed. On the other hand, the first Indians met 

 by Iberville in 1699, when he came to establish a permanent Loui- 

 siana settlement, were members of this tribe,'^ and thus it came about 

 that the onl}^ known relatives of our familiar Dakota, Crows, and 

 Osage on the entire Gulf coast gave their name to the first capitals of 

 Louisiana, old and new Biloxi. The Biloxi village was not, however, 

 on Biloxi bay, as has been erroneously stated, but on Pascagoula river 

 several miles to the eastward in the neighborhood of two other tribes 

 called Pascagoula and Moctobi. The first visit to this tribe was made 

 by Bienville in June, 1699, after Iberville's return to Europe. Sau- 

 voUe observes that the three tribes above mentioned lived together on 



a Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, xxx, 268, 1893. 



b Margry, D^couvertes, iv, 172. It is significant tiiat Iberville, who met Biloxi Indians before 

 encountering any others, is the only one who gives the form Annocchy. In addition to the page 

 above cited, this form occurs on pages 164, 165, 157, and 163 of the same volume. In English it would 

 be Anokshy. 



c Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, xxx, 267-268, 1893. The inter- 

 pretation of Hotcafigara, however, is probably erroneous. 



d Margry, c p. cit., IV, 152-164. 



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