Did Oklahoma have a role in the origin of Arkansas?
The Arkansas River enters Oklahoma’s northern border with Kansas, flows south and exits our state at Oklahoma’s eastern border with the state of Arkansas. In 2013, more than 2.7 million tons of cargo were shipped through the Tulsa Port of Catoosa on the Arkansas River.
With Oklahoma’s rich Indian heritage and many Indian place names, it’s not surprising that the name Arkansas has an Indian source.
A May 4, 1914, article from The Oklahoman gives the Choctaw Nation the credit for the name and explains some other familiar names:
MUSKOGEE, Okla., May 23 — (Special) — The Indian is peculiar about naming individuals, in that the names always have a meaning.
The three great chiefs of the Choctaws having Indian names were Meshohatubby, Apukahanubby and Pushametaha. Nubby means to kill and Mesholichi means to extinguish. So that the name Meshohatubby means to kill to extinguish. Apukahama means a breech cloth and in all probability old Apukahanubby, after Indians had quit wearing cloths, killed
The French Jesuits learned of a tribe probably called Quapaw, or Oo-gaq-pa, which the Algonquins pronounced Oo-ka-na-sa. Early European settlers spelled it different ways — Arkansoa, Arkensa, Arkancas and Arkansas.”
THE OKLAHOMAN
MARCH 7, 2004
some fellow who was noted for clinging to this ancient garment. Pushmchi means to pulverize and the word combined with nubby also means to kill and grind.
Many Indian names yet cling to Oklahoma rivers and mountains to recall to mind a race fast fading away. Tombigby, in Alabama, is a perversion of Itombikbi, box-maker, named so because a white man lived on its banks and made wooden chests for barter to Indians. The mouth of the river became known as the place where they took the whisky from them, and the Indian term for it was Oklahomi or Al-ishi. The “homi” was omitted for brevity and the term then was Oklmailski, which was established away down on the river near the home of the Choctaws in the old nation. In their own language they called it Arkanchie — a place to sell. Today the river is called the Arkansas.
The reporter in 1914 gave the Choctaw Indian tribe credit, but this item
from The Oklahoman on March 7, 2004, reports the generally accepted origin of the name:
Arkansas is the name of an American Indian tribe.
The French Jesuits learned of a tribe probably called Quapaw, or Oo-gaq-pa, which the Algonquins pronounced Oo-ka-na-sa. Early European settlers spelled it different ways — Arkansoa, Arkensa, Arkancas and Arkansas. When the state was admitted to the Union in 1836, it was spelled Arkansas. The Legislature of 1881 appointed a committee to ascertain the rightful pronunciation of the last syllable, and the result was a resolution declaring the pronunciation to be “Ark-an-saw.”