Etymology
The river's name (as "Nodawa") first appears in the journal of Lewis and Clark, who camped at the mouth of the river on July 8, 1804, but who provide no derivation of the name. There exist several proposed etymologies. The most probable is that it comes from an Algonquian term for the Sioux (such as Ojibwe naadowe), derived from a Proto-Algonquian name *naːtoweːwa, "speaker of a foreign language" (though sometimes claimed to mean "snake"). The name could also be from a Dakota Sioux word meaning "crossed without a canoe".
Read more about this topic: Nodaway River
Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
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