A compendium of Indian place-names in the state of Michigan, their origins, and supposed meanings. Contents include: Preface --- Introduction --- 1. Michigan: The Name --- 2. Tribal Names --- 3. Ojibwa Personal Names --- 4. Ottawa Personal Names --- 5. Potawatomi Personal Names --- 6. Other Personal Names --- 7. Names From Literature & Legend --- 8. Artificial "Indian" Names --- 9. Rank, Gender, & Ethnic Names --- 10. Material Culture Names --- 11. The Spirit World --- 12. Names From Fauna --- 13. Names From Flora --- 14. Rivers, Streams, & Lakes --- 15. Topography & Geology --- 16. Descriptive Names --- 17. Commemorative Names --- 18. Names Borrowed From Other States --- 19. Indian Names From Outside The United States --- 20. French-Indian Names --- 21. Potpourri --- 22. Michigan Indians Today

Learning both about the history of the state of Michigan, as well as the meaning of various Indian words and phrases. It's also good for those who are merely curious to find out how particular placenames come to be--the true stories as well as the mythical.

Learning of the possible variant meaning of the name of my own city, Cheboygan. I had always previously learned that its name meant "The Passing-Through Place," (zhaabwii-ganing), in reference to the river. According to this book, however, its name could mean "Big Pipe" ((git)chi-opwaagan), and that could make just as much sense. Interesting! The section on placenames taken from native mythology was also intriguing, as well as the knowledge of just how many "Indian names" in Michigan are actually completely made up--and are not "Indian" at all.

The book is not laid out "dictionary style," so one really does have to browse through the entire thing to get the full flavor of it; you can't simply look up a name alphabetically (well, unless you resort to the index, I guess). However, this is also an upside of the book, in that it doesn't read so dryly as a dictionary-style book might. I also wished that some more of the names were defined, but this was no fault of the author; sometimes the meaning of a placename is lost to history.

Read another one in my pile of books on Michigan's Indians. This book was about as exhaustive as one can get on Michigan's Indian placenames, so I hardly think another volume is needed!

More educated regarding not only snippets of Michigan and local history, but a bit more educated on the Anishnabe (Ojibwa/Ottawa/Pottawatomi) language.

Is Virgil J. Vogel, a historian who has written various other books and articles on Indian history, culture, and medicine. He wrote this particular book when he discovered that there were no comprehensive books out there on this subject. Talk about making oneself useful!

Not only can it be useful for students of history and Indian languages, it's also at times merely an interesting read which often makes one think, "I never knew that!"

It may not be "colorful" or tantalizing enough for readers more interested in deep history or long narratives, but that much is pretty obvious just from the title. I have to admit that even I was leery of reading it at first. You'd also better keep an open mind if you happen to live in a Michigan city with a supposedly Indian name, because a lot of said native names, as well as the stories associated with them, are purely made up.

Like I just said, it took me a while to get around to reading this book because I figured it would make for very dry reading and I would have to drag my way through it. I was surprised to find this wasn't so; and that rather than reading like a really dull dictionary or explanation of linguistics and the history of placenames, it reads more like a book full of tidbits and surprising trivia about things you only thought you knew. Who was I to know that the name of the nearby town of Onaway likely means...absolutely nothing? Or that "The Passing-Through Place" isn't the only possible meaning of my own hometown's name? Or that the meaning I was long ago given for the name of my city of birth, Petoskey, was almost certainly incorrect? Or that it seems NOBODY knows what "Ponshewaing" means?? (Well, somebody had to give it a shot.) Needless to say, I ended up not having to drag myself through the book at all--though also like I said--it's pretty exhaustive, so I don't think I'll need to be reading another book on this particular subject any time soon.

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Created Aug 18, 2006 at 7:20am • Submit your own review...