Anthropological Studies of Native American Place Naming

ion in place naming was cultural index to some degree with more evolved cultures displaying a higher level of abstraction (1922:182). Although his arguments on this point are sketchy and unconvincing, they represent an early attempt to develop a cross-cultural theory of place-naming. In addition to examining what features of the landscape were named, Waterman also offered insightful commentary on the semantic references contained within Indian place names. In contrast to the mawkish and styled American Indian Quarterly / Spring 1997 / Vol. 21(2) 215 This content downloaded from 207.46.13.178 on Wed, 15 Jun 2016 04:40:12 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms