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Question
#25938. Huck
asks:
Why is Arkansas not spelt as it is pronounced, 'Arkansaw'?
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mibmob
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Arkansas is a French variant of the Siouxian word Quapaw (also a tribe located in the area around the area where Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Arkansas almost meet, and, additionally, a town in northeastern Oklahoma, between Miami and Baxter Springs, Kansas). Quapaw means, literally, 'downstream people.'
 http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/markansa.html
Jan 04 03, 6:01 PM
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Gnomon
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Arkansas is spelt that way because that's how you spell 'ar-kan-saw' in French. The real question, is why 'Kan-saw', the state next door is now pronounced 'kan-suss'.
Jan 04 03, 11:30 PM
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DrMaeve
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"Arkansas" is not a "French variant of the Siouxian word Quapaw." "Quapaw" derives from Siouxian "U-gakh-pa," "The downstream people." "Arkansas" is from an Algonquin word "Akansa." It's the name that the Illinois tribes called the Quapaw. One early spelling was "Arkansea." The spelling with the final "s" IS French. The "r" in Arkansas is intrusive, like the "r's" that British speakers and Bostonians stick into their speech. An early Arkansas governor wanted to pass legislation to fix the pronunciation as "Ah-kan-sah." The word "Kansas" comes from a different tribe of Indians, the Kansa, and filtered into English by way of English speaking explorers and not French.
Mar 15 07, 9:05 AM
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cadillac25
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Arkansas was once spelled Arkansaw, as was the Arkansaw River. Interestingly enough, the correct term for one who hails from that state is not Arkansan, but Arkansawyer, an official designation that predates the newer Arkansas.
http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861695659/Arkansawyer.html
Definition: (regional) somebody from Arkansas: somebody who comes from Arkansas
[Early 20th century.
Regional History: Arkansawyer is, apparently, preferred by natives of Arkansas to the more familiar Arkansan.
[Added definition reference for Arkansawyer - McG]
Jan 09 08, 4:19 PM
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McGruff 
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Many place names in Arkansas, including Arkansas, are French pronunciations of Indian words.
At the time of the early French exploration, a tribe of Indians, the Quapaws, lived West of the Mississippi and north of the Arkansas River. The Quapaws, or OO-GAQ-PA, were also known as the downstream people, or UGAKHOPAG. The Algonkian-speaking Indians of the Ohio Valley called them the Arkansas, or "south wind."
The state's name has been spelled several ways throughout history. In Marquette and Joliet's "Journal of 1673", the Indian name is spelled AKANSEA. In LaSalle's map a few years later, it's spelled ACANSA. A map based on the journey of La Harpe in 1718-1722 refers to the river as the ARKANSAS and to the Indians as LES AKANSAS. In about 1811, Captain Zebulon Pike, a noted explorer, spelled it ARKANSAW.
During the early days of statehood, Arkansas' two U.S. Senators were divided on the spelling and pronunciation. One was always introduced as the senator from "ARkanSAW" and the other as the senator from "Ar-KANSAS." In 1881, the state's General Assembly passed a resolution declaring that the state's name should be spelled "Arkansas" but pronounced "Arkansaw."
The pronunciation preserves the memory of the Indians who were the original inhabitants of our state, while the spelling clearly dictates the nationality of the French adventurers who first explored this area.
http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:vSC0nvXUYF0J:www.anoasis.co.uk/content/2004/11/06/Politics/why_is_arkansas_pronounced_arkansaw.html+arkansaw&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us
Cached page, originally:
www.anoasis.co.uk/content/2004/11/06/Politics/why_is_arkansas_pronounced_arkansaw.html
Jan 09 08, 11:16 PM
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