Jasper County Democrat, Volume 8, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 February 1906 — Meaning of the Word “Omaha.” [ARTICLE]

Meaning of the Word “Omaha.”

The name “Omaha” bears testimony to the long journey of the people and reveals some of the causes brought about this breaking up into distinct tribes. It is composed of two words, which signify “going against the current," or up the stream. The Omahas were the people who went up the stream, while the Quapaws, their near of kin, went, as their name reveals, “with the current,” or down the stream. The traditions of both these peoples say that the parting occurred during a hunting expedition, each division finally settling in the lands whither they had wandered apart. This epochal hunt must have been centuries ago, for the Quapaws bore their descriptive name in 1540. being mentioned in the Portuguese narrative of De Soto's expedition as then living on the Arkansas river, where they dwelt until 1839, when they ceded their long occupied lands to the United States.