Place Name Miscommunications

Q: Thanks for an interesting site. I am designing some curriculum about the many uses of maps, and I wonder if you might be able to guide me to some information.

Specifically, I have heard stories (which might be not true) about place names given to North American regions, towns, features (mountains, rivers, etc.) which were the result of European misunderstanding or arrogance.  For example (this is just made up), a European tries to communicate with a Native American  by pointing at an island and saying "What is that called?" in French or Spanish. The Native American responds by saying, "What is the funny-looking man pointing at?," and the European thinks that the words he just heard are the name of the place or thing, so the river is called "What is the funny-looking man pointing at?" from then on.

I have tried many different resources and search tools. While I have found many, many references to names that actually (at least somewhat) relate to their native American equivalents, such as tribal names, etc. But I have not had luck in the material I am looking for. Possibly it doesn't exist and these stories are just urban(?) legend.

If it would not be too inconvenient for you, any help or direction you might suggest would be appreciated.

A: Thanks for writing. That's an interesting question, and we can look into it for you. Probably the most common one is the many rivers named a Native American word for "river." I can just imagine the European explorers pointing at the river and asking "What is this river called?" and the Native people patiently telling them "That's a river." :-)

Regrettably, I'm pretty sure that the indigenous names most commonly said to mean "I don't know" or "I don't understand you," like "kangaroo" and "Yucatan," do not actually have that meaning. But there may be more like that. I know of one funny example in an early Algonquian dictionary where an Englishman wrote down what is clearly the phrase "I will give you food" and translated it as "hungry." Obviously when he tried to pantomime hunger in an attempt to elicit the Algonquian word for "hungry," his host mistook him as being actually hungry and went to fetch him something to eat. :-)

ETA: We've got one for you, though it's roundabout: Pima County, in Arizona, is named after the Pima tribe. Their own name for themselves is Akimel O'odham. "Pima" is thought to be a Spanish corruption of the O'odham word for "I don't know," which is Pinimahch. If that's true, then that name was undoubtedly the product of a misunderstanding!

As for the redundant names, I know I've seen many over the years, but never thought to write them down, and they turn out to be very difficult to search for. One we were able to think of is Askom Mountain in Canada. "Askom" definitely comes from the Lillooet word for "mountain," askwem. So Askom Mountain does indeed mean "Mountain Mountain."

Hope that helps, have a good day!

Further reading:
American Indian names
Algonquian languages
Pima language