A fresh look at the place name Chicago

Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Summer 2003 by McCafferty, Michael

Furthermore, although it is not impossible that the French expression "oignon doux" all by itself could refer to Allium canadense, as Swenson presumed, it would be hard to prove that. In any event, it is clear that "8abissipena" (La Salle's ), which Swenson translates to French "oignon doux," is certainly not Allium canadense, for Allium canadense is in no way an aquatic plant, nor is it a "pomme de terre" (French for "potato"), since this French expression was used historically as a general designation for edible tubers.

The Illinois term in question is waapisihpena, whose constituents are | waap-esi-hpen-a | 'white'-animate intransitive final-'tuber'-animate noun marker. The word is cognate with Ojibwa waabiziipin. Furthermore, the Illinois and Ojibwa terms denoted the same plant historically, since the French-borrowed Ojibwa term for this plant actually occurs several times in the Illinois-French dictionary as a translation for the Illinois term.37 The plant in question is not Allium canadense but Sagittaria latifolia commonly known as arrowhead, duck potato, wapato and arrow leaf, including related varieties as indicated by the Illinois-French dictionary's translation itself.

As for the Illinois plant term, noted above, which is variously spelled ~ , this appears to be the word for rattlesnake root (Prenanthes racemosa).38 At least this is what Le Boullenger's dictionary actually suggests. For some reason, when Swenson wrote his article, he failed to include Le Boullenger's complete translation for , which is "racine pour se garantir de la moisure des serpens et qui les fait fuire. L'oignon est blanc et sort hors de terre. La tige a un pied de haut. Les feuilles 4 cotes et un petit bouton rouge a la teste," meaning "(a) root to guard against snake bites and that makes snakes run away. The bulb is white and comes out of the ground. The stem is one foot tall. The leaves (have) four sides and (there is) a little red button on the head."39

As for Swenson's "8abipena" (the actual Illinois-French dictionary entry is the plural form ), this word literally means "white-tuber" in Illinois, and its constituents are | waap(i)-hpen-a | 'white'-'tuber'-animate noun marker. There is no evidence at all indicating that this term is synonymous with , as Swenson would have us believe. The entries for these two plants in the Illinois-French dictionary and the Le Boullenger dictionary in no way support Swenson's notion. Based on the evidence available in these primary source dictionaries, is actually a cover term in the Illinois language for wild onions. Moreover, the Illinois word for Allium canadense is clearly .40 This is Illinois *iihkweehpiniiwaki waapihpeniiki 'they are sterile tubers, whitetubers.'41 In this connection, Swenson's statement that "Ouinississia" (Le Boullenger's ) is Allium canadense contradicts the dictionary's information itself.42 First of all, Le Boullenger's ~ ~ ~ , as well as the Illinois-French dictionary's (and plural ), are no doubt the same word. The differing first vowels and suggest that the terms came from different dialects of the Illinois language. Second, the spellings that end in are just older forms of this word.43 What is particularly important, however, is that this Illinois plant term cannot be ascribed to Allium canadense, as Swenson believed. Le Boullenger clearly intended to elucidate the meaning of when he added to it the combined Illinois and French comment to the entry,44 and is of course the very Illinois term in the priest's dictionary on which Swenson based, correctly, his Allium tricoccum theory. Therefore, and its variants are obviously the standard expression for Allium tricoccum, while , as defined by the accompanying French observation "abusive," is no doubt a slang term for the same plant.