21 on Considering the Feasibility of Establishing Key-Spellings for Indian Place-Names in the Index to the Complete Works of Captain John Smith Philip L
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21 On Considering the Feasibility of Establishing Key-spellings for Indian Place-Names in the Index to The Complete Works of Captain John Smith Philip L. Barbourt Louisville, Kentucky From the outset, I should like to stress the tentative character of what I am about to put before you. I will welcome any comments you may have, and suggest that you make them privately unless you feel that they are of general interest. And I will lead off with a comment of my own. The assiduous Frederick Webb Hodge made a stab at gathering varying spellings under one head in the so-called SYNONYMY section of his still valuable Handbook, which appeared on the market in the days when I got a medal for excellence in Latin—not Algonquian. Unfortunately, Hodge seems not to have known what a synonym was (and still is), and still more unfortunately the distinguished Smithsonian Institution did not trouble to find out, and consequently the Northeast volume (No. 15) of the new Handbook of North American Indians persists in this bit of silliness . (Robert Tindall's cartographic entry "Tapahanna" on the James was a sort of synonym for Smith's Quiyoughcohanock, which was the same place, but "Pasbyhayes" is no more a synonym for Paspahegh than "sumthin" is a synonym for something.) Why not call them "variant transcriptions (or spellings)"? To get back to the subject. What has made the matter of key-spellings an immediate concern is the fact that the Institute of Early American History and Culture is at last faintly whispering that something may really be being done about the publication of my edition of Smith's Works, and has been in contact with Professor David B. Quinn's wife, Alison, regarding the Index. My late lamented assistant, Wolfgang Rennert, got as far with indexing as he could without any proofs to work from, but I regret to say that I no longer feel up to the thousands of entries to be checked and completed. I am delighted that Alison Quinn, a noted indexer, will trouble to help out, or better, take over. Nevertheless there are some spots where I fear I must run interference. While the place and personal names of continental Europe, Asia, and Africa will present no cause for concern—since the correct forms of all of these are available in the various national encyclopaedias and the London Times Atlas, there are a few minor details where I shall interpose my own system of transliteration (based on sound, not on spelling), as in Ra's at-Tin, Libya, not Ras al-Tin, and a major issue involving Indian words and names. On this point I have lamentably strong opinions. To circumscribe the area involved. North American Indian personal and place names contained in Captain John Smith's works have no "correct" forms. A dozen or two of them have accepted spellings based on usage. For the rest, just take a look at Hodges' so-called SYNONYMY, or the pages ne(convenientlw Handbook'y. scatteredAnywhere ) froof m so-calletwo or dthre synonymiee to mors e intha thn e fifty 22 variant transcriptions, or spellings, have been recorded of more than 250 Virginia, Maryland, and New England place- names listed by Smith, without counting a fair number of identical place-names for widely dispersed villages or geographical features connected with differing tribes, and omitting a goodly number of personal names not recorded by Smith himself but often mentioned in footnotes to his works. These occasionally puzzlingly discrepant transcriptions are due to the hearing, understanding, speech-habits, and even prejudices of the various transcribers, abetted by the lack of any form of "law and order" in the English non-phonetic system of spelling then and now. The "democratic" system adopted by the new Handbook, in which all spellings are given equal rights, however, does not seem to me to serve the purpose of an index to John Smith's works. The reader of a book in quaint English that talks mostly about people with strange names not uniformly spelled needs help. I therefore aim to give that reader a consistently spelled form of the majority of the names, a key-spelling, to which all the variants are referred or cross-referenced. In some cases these will be the modern names in common use. Usually, I have chosen the spelling that Smith himself seems to have preferred. In addition, where it is at all possible, I have suggested a probable pronunciation as of the early 1600s. While I am writing this, by courtesy of our colleague Professor Francis Jennings, now of The Newberry Library, I am able to make use of the relatively recent monograph of Eugene Green and Celia M. Millward, "Semantic Categories in the Names of Algonquian Waterways". I mention it here especially because it makes me hope that we may someday have more such studies, and at the same time prods me into wondering why modern linguists are so afraid of phonetics. The International Phonetic Association had more than 30 years ago (I have lost touch with them) devised a phonetic alphabet for, among other things, "working out romanic orthographies for languages written in other systems or for languages hitherto unwritten". Why such a study as the one I have just mentioned cannot put the sounds of Indian words down in the International Phonetic Alphabet really escapes me. A glance in Harrap's French-English Dictionary will tell you, extremely accurately, how an unfamiliar French word should be pronounced, thanks to the International Phonetic Alphabet. Is there a sound reason why authors of linguistic monographs should not avail themselves of this scientific system instead of higgledy-piggledy makeshifts ultimately derived from nineteenth century American dictionaries? So much for general phonetics. In this paper and in the Index for John Smith's Works, at least so far as Indian names are concerned, I am planning to use key-spellings based on standard, more-or-less educated English pro nunciation, with the stress (where guessable) indicated by underlining syllables. Under these circumstances, whether you say "can't" or "cahn't" is not important, as long as you don't say "cain't". ' 23 REFERENCES AND ABBREVIATIONS ARCHER, Gabriel 1969 "Relatyon", reprinted in Barbour, JV. BARBOUR, Philip L. 1969 The Jamestown Voyages Under the First Charter, 1606-1609. Hakluyt Society, Cambridge. "JV" 1970 Pocahontas and her World. Boston. 1971 The Earliest Reconnaissance of the Chesapeake Bay Area. Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Part I, 79.280-302. "PLB 1971" deest "not there, not specifically mentioned" ECKSTORM, Fannie Hardy 1960 Indian Place-Names of the Penobscot Valley and the Maine Coast. Reprinted, Orono, Maine. "Eck. G&M see Green, 19 78. GH see John Smith, 1624. GREEN, Eugene, and Celia M. Millward 19 78 Semantic Categories in the Names of Algonquian Waterways. World Anthropology. Approaches to Language. The Hague, Paris. 417-433. "G&M" Hbk 1907-1910 see Hodge, 1907-1910. Hbk 1978 see Sturtevant, 1978. HODGE, Frederick W. 190 7-1910 Handbook of Indians North of Mexico. Smithsonian Institution, BAE Bulletin 30. Washington. "Hbk 1907-1910" JS see John Smith. mod. "modern" PERCY, George 1965? A Trewe relacyon of the procedeinges ... in Virginia from ... 1609 untill ... 1612. Manuscript No. 106 in the Elkins collection, Free Library of Philadelphia (printed with many minor errors in Tyler's Quarterly, 3. 258-82). 1969 Observations Gathered out of a Discourse... (1625), reprinted in Barbour, JV. 24 perh . "perhaps" PURCHAS, Samuel 1625 Hakluytus Posthumus or Purhcas his Pilgrimes. 4 vols. London. QUINN, David Beers 1955 The Roanoke Voyages 1584-1590. 2 vols. _Hakluyt Society. London. 1979 New American World. 5 vols. New York. SMITH, Captain John 1624 The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles ... (from the copy being reprinted in The Complete Works, ed. PLB). "GH" 1969 Other works reprinted in Barbour, JV. STRACHEY, William 1953 The Historie of Travell into Virginia Britania (1612), ed. Louis B. Wright and Virginia Freund. Hakluyt Society. London. STURTEVANT, William C, General Editor 1978 Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 15, Northeast. Bruce C. Trigger, ed. Smithsonian Institution, Washington. "Hbk 1978" TINDALL, Robert 1969 "Draughte of Virginia", map drawn 1608?, reproduced in Barbour, JV. / "and or" TENTATIVE LIST OF KEY-SPELLINGS Note that the references are primarily for identification, and are not intended to be exhaustive. ACCOMAC, VA. PLB 1971. Hbk 1907-10, I, 7-8. Hbk 1978 248. "Other-side place." ACCOMAC, MA. JS GH 205. Hard by mod. Plymouth. ACCOMINTICUS, ME. JS GH 205. Hbk 1907-10, I, 8. Hbk 1978, 169. Eck. 179-81. G&M 1978, 421. AGAWAM, MA. JS GH 204, 205. Hbk 1707-10, I, 21. Hbk 161 (map), 169. Prob. near mod. Ipswich. ANDROSCOGGIN (river), ME. JS GH 205 has "Anmoughcawgin", and the great variety of spellings cited in Eck 147-8 seem to confirm the identification. See Hbk 1978 146 25 APOKANT, VA. PLB 1971. Hbk 1907-10, I, 70. Perh. "tobacco plenty-place." APPOMATTOC, VA. A concession to mod. toponymy. PLB 1971. Hbk 1907-10, I, 70. Hbk 1978, 268. Important tributary mid. James R. and village/tribe. G&M 1978, 421, "river makes a bend." APPOMATTOC, VA. PLB 1971. JS True Relation, sig. Clv only; on or near the Rappahanock R. A spurious entry or a chance encounter with some of the foregoing tribe? ARAHATEC, VA. PLB 1971. This simplified spelling is based on Robert Tindall's map of 1608(?) and Gabriel Archer's "Relatyon" of 1607. The modern spelling for the area is Arrohattoc, based on Smith's usual spelling. There seems to have been a breathing-sound at the end of the first syllable, giving rise to a frequent transcription with Ars-.