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HelpRe: Savannah
in reply to a message by Theodora'sMommy
Ok, I looked it up...according to an article in the International Journal of American Linguistics, it doesn't. Traditionally, it was said (initially by "an old trader") to be interchangable with "Shawnee" or "Shawano" but it wasn't - that doesn't make sense in context of modern linguistics (the sound changes aren't consistent with the languages involved) and since the topographical word "savannah" was in use there already...
The city name comes from the nearby river name which comes from the topographical term. Several tribes of Native Americans including the Shawnee were likely called "Savannah Indians" by traders (and then by other English colonists in the 1700s) just because they lived in savannahs or by the river. It's really a nature word derived from Spanish via Taino (ultimately about something impersonal and mundane as sheet/flat) and not a specific Algonquin tribe name.
The city name comes from the nearby river name which comes from the topographical term. Several tribes of Native Americans including the Shawnee were likely called "Savannah Indians" by traders (and then by other English colonists in the 1700s) just because they lived in savannahs or by the river. It's really a nature word derived from Spanish via Taino (ultimately about something impersonal and mundane as sheet/flat) and not a specific Algonquin tribe name.
This message was edited 4/11/2022, 5:20 AM
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Many of the names that groups of Indigenous people go by or went by in the past were given to them by neighbours, friends or even enemies. My ex-husband and daughter are Mohawk, for example. “Mohawk” is not the name their people called themselves, nor is it accurate or flattering. But they consider it no less a part of their history and culture, and it’s still an important word. If there is a name, or many names, regardless of origin, it’s proof that they were there and that they were acknowledged. In a culture where many things have been stripped away, names and words are important, even if they’re defunct or were bestowed by someone else.
I just know it’s an entire area I personally avoid, and I like to point it out because sometimes people don’t consider things from that perspective. You can come to your own conclusions. I’m of the mind that with so many names out there, there’s no reason to pick one adapted from A long-marginalized culture.
I just know it’s an entire area I personally avoid, and I like to point it out because sometimes people don’t consider things from that perspective. You can come to your own conclusions. I’m of the mind that with so many names out there, there’s no reason to pick one adapted from A long-marginalized culture.
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I understand it usually. I was confused though because in this case (it's not adapted from a marginalized culture? It would have been an English descriptor borrowed from Spanish in this context) saying Savannah Indians would be like saying Plains Indians, except more southern/Spanish influenced, and it's not appropriative or a particularly unique thing to live in savannahs or plains...or generally controversial to use nature words as names...right?? At some point words are just words and history is shared? I don't understand where you're drawing a line...like to me not using Savannah specifically for this reason seems about like swearing off tomatoes, chocolate, canoeing, or pajamas for this reason, or at least more so than it would be like not using Shawnee, Cheyenne, Mohawk, India, etc, as a name.
This message was edited 4/13/2022, 1:59 PM
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