Fun With Creek And Choctaw Place-Names In Alabama

Ruth and I spent yesterday in Chattanooga on various errands. Chatt is about the same size as Huntsville, but has an interesting downtown, something sorely lacking in Huntsville. There's an interesting used book store on Frazier Ave. called A Novel Idea Bookstore which always has a book or two that I buy. One book they had that I didn't buy in spite of being interested is a slim volume, Indian Place Names In Alabama (if I remember correctly). The price was $20, more than I felt I could pay. But, I did look up a few stream names and found their meanings:

Hillabee--means "quick" in the Creek language.
Tallapoosa--means "grinding (or ground) rock" in Choctaw.
Emuckfaw--means "metallic ornament" in Creek.
Coosa--means "river reed" in Creek.
Sipsey--means "tulip poplar tree" in Choctaw.

People often forget that much of modern Alabama was held as autonomous areas by various Indian nations until the 1810's, and the Indians were forcibly removed by Andrew Jackson in the infamous "Trail of Tears" in 1834. I like much about Andrew Jackson, but not that part of his career.

James informed me that his DNA extractions of our recent stippled studfish collections went well, with decent looking pellets (DNA) at the end. So, we're on to more PCR!