this post was submitted on 04 Sep 2023
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Arkinsaw
"Arkansas" and "Kansas" are both from the Osage language, but the former passed through French on its way to English.
i'm from somewhere in europe and always wondered why you guys would pronounce those two so different!
America has a lot of place names that come from Native American / First Nations languages; but they also come via different European languages.
And some of those names are actually words that refer to a different Native group. "Arkansas" and "Kansas" are from the Osage word for the Quapaw people. The name of the Snake River between Oregon and Idaho is a translation of the name that Plains people used to refer to the Shoshone: they were the "snake people" and that wasn't a compliment.
I've heard that, but "Ar Kan Saw" is nothing like how a French person would pronounce "Arkansas"
That is interesting. Do you have a source?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkansas
It's the pirate Kansas.
2010 Arkansas Code Title 1 - General Provisions Chapter 4 - State Symbols, Motto, Etc ยง 1-4-105 - Pronunciation of state name.
Be it therefore resolved by both houses of the General Assembly, that the only true pronunciation of the name of the state, in the opinion of this body, is that received by the French from the native Indians and committed to writing in the French word representing the sound. It should be pronounced in three (3) syllables, with the final "s" silent, the "a" in each syllable with the Italian sound, and the accent on the first and last syllables. The pronunciation with the accent on the second syllable with the sound of "a" in "man" and the sounding of the terminal "s" is an innovation to be discouraged.
Brit here, I only realised a couple of years ago that the Arkansaw I heard mentioned in American TV and movies was actually the Arkansas I could see on maps. I think it was something said on Reddit, probably a thread similar to this, that was the revelation. And when I tell other Brits they're invariably similarly clueless, and quite gobsmacked. I'm not sure if anyone I've mentioned it too has said "oh yeah I knew that".