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Thursday, October 26, 2006

Chocta-WHATchee?

No, Choctaw-HATCHee. "Hatchee" (or "hatchie") occurs in many southern U.S. place names. Another example is the Buttahatchee River in Mississippi and west Alabama, from which an ivory-bill nest was reported in 1886. "Hatchee" means "creek" or "river" in the Creek language, so Choctawhatchee translates as “River of the Choctaws.” Of course, when we say "Choctawhatchee River," we're essentially saying "Choctaw River River."

Coincidentally, Bobbie Gentry's classic 1967 Ode to Billy Joe includes the Choctaw and Hatchee elements: "Seems like nothin' ever comes to no good up on Choctaw Ridge,
and now Billy Joe MacAllister's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge."

And in case you think Gentry just made these places up, look at this old map from Panola County, Mississippi.

But I digress...

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