Settling Laurel's Business

ISHOULD LIKE TO CALL the attention of United States place name students to the possibility that laurel in Laurel Hill, West Virginia and Pennsylvania, is not from the North American mountain laurel but (by folk etymology) from (1) either Dela"rare lawi or Shawnee liiwi, each a reflex of the Proto-Algonquian stem *8iiwi 'middle,' or (2) either Delaware lawi 1 or Shawnee laawi (Voegelin), each a reflex of the Proto-Algonquian stem *liiwi 'far,' 'too far,' 'falls short.' Possibility Number One has already been mentioned by some local historians; the meaning of Laurel Hill from P A *8iiwi would be 'Middle Mountain.' Possibility Number Two is my own suggestion,2 and has heretofore been unprinted. The meaning of Laurel Hill from PA *lawi would be 'Far or Distant Mountain

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