The Answer Dude: Why is it 'Arkansaw,' not Ar-Kansas?

What's in a name, asked Billy Shakespeare. That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, wrote the bard in Romeo and Juliet. But, how you pronounce the name of our state can be fighting words in some quarters.

Susy Simoneaux has this week's question for The Answer Dude. I hope you can answer this question that I have posed to many locals yet no one has been able to answer. I was not born in Arkansas, but it is home to me and I want to know everything about it. Why is Arkansas pronounced ar-can-saw and Kansas pronounced cans-us? Since the last six letters of each are identical, why isn't ArKansas pronounced ar-cans-us?

Well, Susy, the short answer is it's the law that Arkansas is pronounced ar-can-saw. Seriously. There's a state law designating the official pronunciation of the state's name, but more on that later.

I did some research on your question and this is what I learned from various sources. Arkansas was a favorite spot for French explorers in the 17th and 18th centuries. It also was the home of many Native American Indian tribes. During that time, the Quapaws lived west of the Mississippi River and north of the Arkansas River.

According to the Arkansas secretary of state's website, the Quapaws were known as the "downstream people" by some tribes, and the Algonkian-speaking Indians of the Ohio Valley called them the Arkansas, or "south wind." Their pronunciation of the name was "Oo-ka-na-sa," according to Arkansas Tech University.

There were different spellings of the names, with the French explorers applying their spelling to the Indian names. In the journal of explorers Marquette and Joliet, they spelled the Indian name "Akansea." Later, LaSalle spelled it "Acansa" on a map. Explorer La Harpe, in the early 1700s, called the river "Arkansas" and the Indians "Les Akansas" (not to be confused with "Les Royale" of Pulp Fiction fame). Then, about 1811, American explorer Zebulon Pike — of the Pike's Peak Pikes — spelled it "Arkansaw."

So, as you can see, from the beginning no one could agree on how to spell it, let alone pronounce it. You also can imagine that mixing French, Quapaw, Algonkian, and ultimately English, must created quite a conglomeration of spellings and pronunciations. Finally, with statehood in 1836, everyone settled on the spelling as "Arkansas."

But, there still was a dispute of how to say it. The story goes that two U.S. senators from our great state differed; one called it "Ar-kan-saw," the other "Ar-Kansas." It eventually took an act of the General Assembly to settle the issue.

In 1881, the Legislature passed a resolution that the spelling would be "Arkansas" and the pronunciation "Arkansaw." Lawmakers said it preserved the memory of the original residents of the state and honored the French explorers.

As for what residents of Arkansas call themselves, well, there might still be a little difference of opinion. "Arkansan" pretty much is the accepted name for those of us who call Arkansas home. Yet for many years, folks were proud to call themselves "Arkansawyers," a term I still use myself. I'm a naturalized Arkansawyer, having came from Texas, but my daddy was from Arkansas, so I was half-Arkansawyer from the beginning.

Susy, I hope that answers your question without making everything as clear as Delta mud.

What the law says

This is from Title 1, Chapter 4 of the Arkansas Code establishing how to spell and pronounce Arkansas.

"Whereas, confusion of practice has arisen in the pronunciation of the name of our state and it is deemed important that the true pronunciation should be determined for use in oral official proceedings.

"And, whereas, the matter has been thoroughly investigated by the State Historical Society and the Eclectic Society of Little Rock, which have agreed upon the correct pronunciation as derived from history and the early usage of the American immigrants.

"Be it therefore resolved by both houses of the General Assembly, that the only true pronunciation of the name of the state, in the opinion of this body, is that received by the French from the native Indians and committed to writing in the French word representing the sound. It should be pronounced in three (3) syllables, with the final "s" silent, the "a" in each syllable with the Italian sound, and the accent on the first and last syllables. The pronunciation with the accent on the second syllable with the sound of "a" in "man" and the sounding of the terminal "s" is an innovation to be discouraged."

Name variations

• Native American Indians: Arkansas pronounced Oo-Ka-na-sa

• Explorers Marquette and Joliet: Akansea

• Explorer LaSalle: Acansa

• Explorer La Harpe: Arkansas; Native American Indians, Les Akansas

• Explorer Zebulon Pike: Arkansaw

• State Senators: After statehood in 1836, agreed on name of Arkansas but differed on pronunciation between Ar-Kan-saw and Ar-Kansas

• State Law: A resolution was passed in 1881 with the spelling being Arkansas and the pronunciation Arkansaw

Have a question?

You have questions? The Answer Dude will find you answers. Email me at sgarrett@baxterbulletin.com, or snail mail it to 16 W. Sixth St., Mountain Home, AR 72653. You also can send questions on Facebook at SonnyGarrett BaxterBulletin, and on Twitter at @BulletinSonnyG. You can call, too, at (870) 508-8053.