In addition to the names of natural objects, the early colonists, of course, took over a great many Indian place-names, and a number of words to designate Indian relations and artificial objects in Indian use. To the last division belong /hominy/, /pone/, /toboggan/, /canoe/, /tapioca/, /moccasin/, /pow-wow/, /papoose/, /tomahawk/, /wigwam/, /succotash/ and /squaw/, all of which were in common circulation by the beginning of the eighteenth century. Finally, new words were made during the period by translating Indian terms, for example, /war-path/, /war-paint/, /pale-face/, /medicine-man/, /pipe-of-peace/ and /fire-water/. The total number of such borrowings, direct and indirect, was a good deal larger [Pg042] than now appears, for with the disappearance of the red man the use of loan-words from his dialects has decreased. In our own time such words as /papoose/, /sachem/, /tepee/, /wigwam/ and /wampum/ have begun to drop out of everyday use;[9] at an earlier period the language sloughed off /ocelot/, /manitee/, /calumet/, /supawn/, /samp/ and /quahaug/, or began to degrade them to the estate of provincialisms.[10] A curious phenomenon is presented by the case of /maize/, which came into the colonial speech from some West Indian dialect, went over into orthodox English, and from English into French, German and other continental languages, and was then abandoned by the colonists. We shall see other examples of that process later on.
Whether or not /Yankee/ comes from an Indian dialect is still disputed. An early authority, John G. E. Heckwelder, argued that it was derived from an Indian mispronunciation of the word /English/.[11] Certain later etymologists hold that it originated more probably in an Indian mishandling of the French word /Anglais/. Yet others derive it from the Scotch /yankie/, meaning a gigantic falsehood. A fourth party derive it from the Dutch, and cite an alleged Dutch model for "Yankee Doodle," beginning "/Yanker/ didee doodle down."[12] Of these theories that of Heckwelder is the most plausible. But here, as in other directions, the investigation of American etymology remains sadly incomplete. An elaborate dictionary of words derived from the Indian languages, compiled by the late W. R. Gerard, is in the possession of the Smithsonian Institution, but on account of a shortage of funds it remains in manuscript. [Pg043]