November 6, iSgi.J 



SCIENCE. 



261 



<3ue to the Canadians " (p. viii,), are as follows: " Mit-ass, n. Cree, 

 Mitas (Anderson). Leggings. A word imported by the Canadian 

 French (p. 17). Sis'-ki-you, n. Cree (Anderson). A bob-tailed 

 horse (p. 33). Totoosh, or Tatoosh, n. Chippeway, totosli (School- 

 craft). The breasts of a female, milk. Totoosh lahles [la graisse], 

 butter." 



The other words, the second of which is clearly Algonkian, 

 Gibbs thus describes : ' ' HJoos-moos n. Klikatat musmus ; Chi- 

 nook, eniusmus. Buffalo, horned cattle. The word, slightly 

 varied, is common to several languages. Mr. Anderson derives it 

 from the Cree word moostoos, a buffalo, and supposes it to have 

 been imported by the Canadians; but Father Pandosy makes niMS- 

 »M<s Yakama"' (p. 17). " Wap pa-too, n. Quaere, m. d. The root 

 of the Sagittaria sagittifolia. which forms an article of food ; the 

 potato. The word is neither Chinook nor Chibalis, but is every- 

 where in common use" p. 28). " Le-pish'-e-mo, n. Queere, u. d. 

 The saddle-blanket and housings" (p. 15). 



The last of the above three words is most likely of mixed French 

 and Algonkian etymology. 



In the ' ' Manual of the Oregon Trade Language, or Chinook 

 Jargon," published by Mr. Horatio Hale in 1890, the following 

 words occur without their Algonkian origin being indicated : 

 Lepishemo (lipishimo), saddle bousing (p. 47). 

 Mitass, 3 [argon] (mitas), leggings (p. 48). 

 Totoosh, J [argon] (totiish), breast, udder, milk (p. 53). 

 And the English ( hinook vocabulary yields the following, of which 

 the origin is likewise not noted : 



Breasts, totoosh (\). 54). 



Butter, totoosh lakles {la graisse, Fr.), p. 23. 



Leggings, mitass (p. 57). 



Milk, totoosh (p. 58). 



Potato, ivappatoo (p. 59). 



The word moosmoos also dnds place in Professor Hale's vocabu- 

 lary, with the meanings " buffalo, cattle, ox," and is set down as 

 [Chinook] (p. 48). The words of Algonkian origin which are to 

 be found in the vocabulary of Chinook, as given by the above 

 authoritie.^, are consequently : Kinni-kinnik, [le] pishemo, mitass, 

 Siskiyou, totoosh, ivappatoo. 



Regarding the etymology of these loan-words, the following may 

 be said : 



Kinni-kinnik. Derived directly or indirectly from Otcipwe. 

 The cognates are OtcipwC (Baraga) kinigiuige, "I am mixing to- 

 gether .something ol' different kinds." (Cuoq) kinikiitige, ■' meler 

 ensemble des choses de nature differente." The radical is seen in 

 Algonkin (Cuoq) kinika, "pele-uiele" = Cree kiyekaiv. 



Lepishimo. This word evidently consists of the French article 

 le and a radical [a]pishemo. This ktter corresponds to the Olcipw5 

 (Baraga) apishamon. " anythmg to lie on; a bed; apishemo, "I 

 am l.^ing on something." Compare the western Americanism 

 apishamore, which Bartlett (Diet, of Americanisms, 1877) thus de- 

 fines : ^' Apishamore (Chippewa, apishamon). Anything to lie 

 down on; abed. A saddle-blanket made of buffalo-calf skins, 

 much used on the prairies." 



31ituss. Directly or indirectly (through French-Canadian) from 

 Otcipwe or Ci-ee. The cognate words are: OteipwB (Baraga), 

 middss; Algonkin (Cuoq), mitas; Cree (Lacombe), mitds. The 

 word exists in Canadian- French in the form mitasse. Dr. Franz 

 Boas hiudly informs me that "legging" in Chinook and Clatsop 

 is imetas. 



Siskiyou. Though this word is assigned a Cree origin by Mr. 

 Gibbs, its etymologj' is very uncertain. Blackfoot sakhsiu, 

 '■short," and Cree kiskiklcuttew, "he cuts in two," offer them- 

 selves for comparison, but with no certainty. 



Tatoosh, totoosh. From Cree or Otcipwe. The cognate words 

 are: Cree (Lacombe). totosim,, " mammelle, pis;" Otcipwe (Baraga), 

 totosh, "breast, dug, udder;" Alkoukin (Cuoq), totoc, "mam- 

 melle." 



Wappato, ivappatoo. From Cree or OtcipwP. The cognate 

 words are: Cree (Lacombe) icapatow, "champignon blanc; " 

 Otcipwe (Baraga), ivdbado, "rhubarb;" Algonkin (Cuoq) wabato, 

 " rhubarbe du Canada." It is in all probability a derivative from 

 the root ivap-(wab ), " white." 



Another word may be added to the list, viz., pdpus (papoose) = 



child. This word is used by the speakers of Chinook in eastern 

 British Columbia. The Algonkin origin of tbe word has been dis- 

 puted by some, but there is every reason to believe that it is con- 

 nected with the root seen in the Massachusetts papeississu (Eliot) 

 = "he is very small ; " peisses (Eliot), " child ; " pe-ii (Eliot), " it is 

 small." From this root there seems little doubt that the word 

 papoos or papoose found in Roger Williams, and in Wood ("New 

 Engl. Prospect "), has been derived, as Dr. Trumbull points out. 



It might be remarked that the words kinni-kinnik, lepishemo, 

 ■mitas, totoosh, wapato, and papoose were all heard by the writer 

 in western British Columbia in the summer of the present year, so 

 they are still in use as part of the jargon. The word sishiyou was 

 not heard and is probably obsolescent. 



It is a remarkable and an interesting fact that the Algonkian 

 family of languages has borne its part in the formation of the 

 curious jargon of the Pacific coast of North America. The pres- 

 ence there of these words is due in part to isolated Otcipwes and 

 Crees who have crossed the Rockies, and to the French-Canadian 

 half-breeds in whose language these words are also to be found. 



A. F. Chamberlain. 



Worcester, Mass., Oct. 24. 



Auroral Phenomena. 



On Sept. 9 there was seen at Lyons, N.Y., a band of hght nar- 

 rower than the Milky Way. arising from the western horizon and 

 passing nearly vertically through the constellations of the Northern 

 Crown and Lyre, just south of the zenith, and thence downward 

 at limes to the eastern horizon. There was an aurora at the time 

 in the northern sky, but this band maintained its position through- 

 out the evening entirely independent of the display, although 

 varying somewhat in brightness in sympathy with the aurora and 

 evidently being itself of an auroral nature. On Sept. 10 and 11 

 an aurora was visible in Great Britain, and, as appears from de- 

 scriptions in Nature for Sept. 17 (p. 475) and Sept 24 (p. 494), a 

 band of light similar to that which constituted such a remarkable 

 feature in the display at Lyons was likewise seen in that locality 

 also. Other instances have been noted by tbe writer in which 

 some peculiarity of form or color has attended an outbreak of the 

 aurora on both sides of tbe Atlantic. 



There is this evening in the western sky a magnificent display 

 of red light similar to the sunset glows which attracted so much 

 attention a few years since. Three-quarters of an hour after sun- 

 set the entire western heavens are lurid red, resembling the reflec- 

 tion from a conflagration. M. A. Veeder. 



Lyons, N.F., Oct. 29. 



Chautauqua and other Iroquois Names. 



Mr. Albert S. Gatschet has kindly sent me his paper on the 

 " Origin of the Name Chautauqua," of which he says, " All the 

 information above was obtained from J. N. B. Hewitt, in Wash- 

 ington, D.C.," but I may be permitted to add a few words on this 

 and other names. I may premise that I have a list of about 1,300 

 Indian names of places in New York, about half of which are 

 either obsolete, or applied to places little known. Many local 

 names can be obtained of the Indians on any reservation. 



First, of pronunciation, in which Mr. Gatschel's informant dif- 

 fers from other authorities. It is a little too positive to say that 

 " To spell it 'Chatakwa' would conform better to scientiSc or- 

 thography, for the first two syllables are both pronounced short." 

 Having but accidentally used the name in conversation with my 

 Onondaga friends, it is of little importance to say that they gave 

 it the usual pronunciation, for I was simply trying to get its 

 meaning. Others, who have given it attention, are quite decided 

 on this point. Mr. O. H. Marshall was an acknowledged author- 

 ity on local Indian names. In his "De Celeron's Expedition to 

 the Ohio." he gives several forms. Among these. Alden wrote it 

 as pronounced by the Seneca chief Cornplanter, " Chaud-dauk- 

 wa." Mr. Marshall adds, "It is a Seneca name, and in the or- 

 thography of that nation, according to the system of the late Rev. 

 Asher Wright, long a missionary among them, and a 'fluent 

 speaker of their language, it would be written • Jah-dab-gwah,' 

 the first two vowels being long, and the last short."' Mr. L. H. 



