We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
The Chinaitih Mountains: The Case for a More Plausible Narrative for How the Chinati Mountains Got Their Name.
- Authors
Rodríguez, Oscar; Rodríguez, Amber; Gohre, David
- Abstract
The popular explanation for how the Chinati Mountains got their name is, while undocumented, a believable folk tale. As the story goes, they were named for the grackle, and the term that was used to coin the placename was the unique northern Mexican adaption of the Nahuatl word for that blackbird, tzanatl. Since at least the 1770s when the Spanish moved into La Junta until now, these mountains have been known by local Spanish-speakers as the Sierra del Chanate. Although these mountains present no obvious justifi cation to invoke this supposed namesake, the placename prospered over the alternatives and was passed on by the Mexicans to the Texans, who then Anglicized it and arrived at Chinati. The authors argue that this narrative is improbable historically and linguistically. They point out that it depends on improbable conjectures and perhaps overlooking the presence of the Apaches, who used to be as ubiquitous in the region as the grackles. They also propose that a more plausible etymology emerges if the Apaches' influence on the Spanish, Mexicans, and Texans is allowed; namely, that the placename originates from the similar-sounding Athabaskan word for the mountain pass at the western edge of the Chinatis, chinaitih.
- Subjects
CHINATI Mountains (Tex.); TEXAS; GEOGRAPHIC names; MOUNTAINS; APACHE (North American people); NAHUATL names; NAHUATL language
- Publication
Journal of Big Bend Studies, 2014, Vol 26, p27
- ISSN
1058-4617
- Publication type
Article