= Attacapas, Gallatin in Trans. and Coll. Am. Antiq. Soc., II, 116,
306, 1836. Gallatin in Trans. Am. Eth. Soc., II. pt. 1, xcix, 77,
1848. Latham, Nat. Hist. Man, 343, 1850 (includes Attacapas and
Carankuas). Gallatin in Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, III, 402, 1853.
Buschmann, Spuren der aztek. Sprache, 426, 1859.
= Attacapa, Latham in Proc. Philolog. Soc. Lond., II, 31-50, 1846.
Prichard, Phys. Hist. Mankind, V, 406, 1847 (or “Men eaters”). Latham
in Trans. Philolog. Soc. Lond., 105, 1856. Latham, Opuscula, 293,
1860.
= Attakapa, Latham in Trans. Philolog. Soc. Lond., 103, 1856. Latham,
Opuscula, 366, 1860. Latham, El. Comp. Phil., 477, 1862 (referred to
as one of the two most isolated languages of N.A.).
= Atákapa, Gatschet, Creek Mig. Leg., I, 45, 1884. Gatschet in
Science, 414, Apr. 29, 1887.
Derivation: From a Choctaw word meaning “man-eater.”
Little is known of the tribe, the language of which forms the basis of
the present family. The sole knowledge possessed by Gallatin was derived
from a vocabulary and some scanty information furnished by Dr. John
Sibley, who collected his material in the year 1805. Gallatin states
that the tribe was reduced to 50 men. According to Dr. Sibley the
Attacapa language was spoken also by another tribe, the “Carankouas,”
who lived on the coast of Texas, and who conversed in their own language
besides. In 1885 Mr. Gatschet visited the section formerly inhabited by
the Attacapa and after much search discovered one man and two women at
Lake Charles, Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, and another woman living 10
miles to the south; he also heard of five other women then scattered in
western Texas; these are thought to be the only survivors of the tribe.
Mr. Gatschet collected some two thousand words and a considerable body
of text. His vocabulary differs considerably from the one furnished by
Dr. Sibley and published by Gallatin, and indicates that the language of
the western branch of the tribe was dialectically distinct from that of
their brethren farther to the east.
The above material seems to show that the Attacapa language is distinct
from all others, except possibly the Chitimachan.