Year: 1961
Type: article
Abstract: ISHOULD LIKE TO CALL the attention of United States place name students to the possibility that laurel in Laurel Hill, West Virginia and Pennsylvania, is not from the North American mountain laurel but (by folk etymology) from ( 1) either Dela"rare lawi or Shawnee liiwi, each a reflex of the Proto-Algonquian stem *8iiwi 'middle,' or (2) either Delaware lawi 1 or Shawnee laawi (Voegelin), each a reflex of the Proto-Algonquian stem *liiwi 'far,' 'too far,' 'falls short.' Possibility Number One has already been mentioned by some local historians; the meaning of Laurel Hill from P A *8iiwi would be 'Middle Mountain.'Possibility Number Two is my own suggestion,2 and has heretofore been unprinted.The meaning of Laurel Hill from PA *lawi would be 'Far or Distant Mountain.'The hill in question is part of a significant range of the Appalachian Mountains, and stretches from north central West Virginia into southwestern Pennsylvania.It is called Laurel Hill (1755, 1780) and Laurel Mountain (1780, 1894, 1904) in West Virginia; in Pennsylvania it is called Laurel Hill.Parallel to it lies Chestnut.Ridge, Pennsylvania, the northern section of which on some maps bears the name Laurel Hill.Loyalhanna Creek emerges from the west side of Chestnut Ridge.In the valley between Chestnut Ridge and Laurel Hill proper lay the old Delaware Indian town, *Loyalhanna (the site today of Ligonier, Pa.).In West Virginia Place Names Their Origin and ~/ eaning, 3 I attribute Laurel Hill to the abundance of difficult laurel thickets.It Note: The asterisk indicates prototypes and extinct place names; ? is used for the glottal stop; aa stands for a; PA means Proto-Algonquian.1 Found in the compound lawat 'long ago.' 2 I am indebted to the Reverend James A. Geary.
Source: Names
Author: Hamill Kenny
Language: English
Subfield: Language and Linguistics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W2066935187