Indian Place name: Illinois

According to Vogel “Illinois is derived from ininwek or ininiok, altered to Illiniwek and finally to Illinois by the French.” Marquette in the Jesuit Relations, LIX: 125 offers this interpretation of the term: “When one speaks the word “Ilinois,” it is as language, “the men,” – As if the other Savages by them merely as animals. It must also be admitted an air of humanity which we have not…seen upon our route.”

Vogel,Virgil J. 1962. Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society (1908-1984) , Summer, 1962, Vol. 55, No. 2 (Summer, 1962), pp. 157-189 Published by: University of Illinois Press 1962, No. 162).