Indian Tribes of the Lower Mississippi Valley and Adjacent Coast of the Gulf of Mexico Page: 25
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SWANTON] INDIAN TRIBES OF THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY 25
otherwise called Anoy," a and probably the iirst of these names is a
misreading by Margry, or some copyist, of Tassenocogoula. The other
name in just this form does not appear elsewhere, but it is evident
that it should be Avoy, v having been misread n. That being the case,
it would be only a shortened form of Avoyel, or Avoyelles, the name
applied by Du Pratz (1718-1734), MAorgan (17(;7)` Silley (180-5) ,
and all the late writers, and that borne by a Louisiana parish ill tle
region where these people formerly lived. Froll tile Frencl aspect of
the plural form of this word many have assulled that it was lderived
from that language, and Gatschet has interpreted it as a di(linilutive
of avoie, "small vipers." e The designation of an Ilndianl tribe by a
word taken from the French language is very uiisa ilsl l( i i;,ia.
however, and this fact, combined with thle alsollute ..ilen(e of the
very earliest French travelers regarding tlhe sigiicai(lle of tlhe nme,
renders it practically certain that it wa1s of p1,ely native o(rirgin,
probably that which the tribe applied to itself. If this \Vee'( tlle case
their language can hardly have been related to MIolbilian or no
alternative term would have been necessary. Not ,1nly l(oes it differ
from words in the ordinarv MuIiskllhoeanl dialectt. however. but. o)t, tlie
other hand, it presents a striking likeness to so111, tlrilbal andl town
names among the Natchez, particularly to an1 alternatives terml applied
to the Natchez themselves, Challalloulles (I)e Moltigi)rl! ).f C,1lelouels.
Techloel, Theloel, Thecoel. or Theloelles (Il)erville) ). Te ' or 11
near the end in all of these is prolbally tlhe Natchez auxiliary 1/ (r ?
which is a conspicuous feature of tlhe language. A loillt of fluther
interest in this connection is the )phonltic r1eseebl)llalce bletw\eel tlhe
first two letters of Avovel and tlhe co()(,11 Nat lhez t(er' i for * stoiie.
As given by Gatschet this is t'fat, 4'ft, ri' ,/f.i btltt Pike lias ol/,l and
the writer does not feel sure that a p1)re f soundlll e\vei' f bilalial
character, exists in this tongue.i Thi.s l)aiticll;ar word lie hears as
iu or o followed by a palatal aspirate .. At the same t ite. tle nattlre
of the sound itself is such that it could readily be heard and
recorded f or v by a European, as indeed was donet 1b (;atchlet. It
is a plausible suggestion, therefore, that Avoyel lhas tllte satlle lealling
in Natchez as the Mobilian or Tunica term . People of tlhe IRocks'
or 'Flint people,' though in the one case the ordinary word for
*Margry, Decouvertes, vi, 249.
"Du Pratz, Hist. de Ia Louisiane, ii, 241.
BRept. of 8th Int. Geog. Cong., 954, 1904.
'Ann. 9th Cong., 2d sess., 1088, 1852.
Bu. Am. Eth., Bulletin 30, pt. 1, 118.
MS., Laval Univ.
Jour. Le Marin, Margry, Decouvertes, iv, 269.
Margry, Ddcouvertes, iv, 155, 179, 409.
'B. A. E., MSS.
J The existence of an f was assumed by the writer in his paper on the ethnological position
of the Natchez Indians (Amer. Anthrop., ix, 513-528) on the authority of Gatschet
before he had heard the language spoken.
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Swanton, John Reed. Indian Tribes of the Lower Mississippi Valley and Adjacent Coast of the Gulf of Mexico, book, 1911; Washington D.C.. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth29404/m1/33/: accessed May 15, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .