Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1979
Keywords
Japanese language--Influence on English; Sanskrit Language--Influence on English; Names, Geographical--Minnesota; Etymology
Abstract
In some American aboriginal words, similarities in phonetics and meaning suggest borrowing, especially from Japanese, or some language(s) from which it is derived, and from Sanskrit, the mother tongue of India, or its Indo-European predecessor. This work suggests that exploration of American Indian names may have important application to human migrations, perhaps even in pre-Columbian time. Intensive research might reveal specific regions of origin of names and of the people who brought them, and may even suggest the time and mode of travel. These studies, concentrated on the Pacific coastal regions of the Western Hemisphere, point to the Middle East and southern and eastern Asia as important source regions for North and South American aboriginal names. Some of these Asian words seem to have migrated to Minnesota. Studies of this kind may help to corroborate evidence of diffusion based on geographical distribution of plants and animals, of folklore, and of other cultural motifs, and provide documentation possibly as revealing as archaeological data, of past human migration and occupation.
First Page
14
Last Page
17
Recommended Citation
Lawrence, D. B.,
&
Jawadekar, M.
(1979).
Some Aboriginal Minnesota Names Borrowed From Sanskrit and Japanese.
Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science, Vol. 45 No.2, 14-17.
Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.morris.umn.edu/jmas/vol45/iss2/6
Primo Type
Article