Whence the Name "KUMIS" ?

NW Mailing List nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org
Wed Feb 22 17:11:44 EST 2012


Kumis is also a surname of Scottish origin.

Ed Painter: Narrows, VA living in Russellville, AR

From: nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org [mailto:nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org] On Behalf Of NW Mailing List
Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2012 11:41 AM
To: N&W Mailing List
Subject: Whence the Name "KUMIS" ?


Has anyone figured out how the name "Kumis" came to be used as a station name on the VGN? MapQuest and Google Earth do not recognize "Kumis" as a geographical location.



The word "kumis" is apparently a Turkic or Mongol word referring to a fermented product made from mare's milk in the Central Asian Steppes, see:



http://thekefir.com/kumis/



I have not been able to nail down the root etymology of the word, as I have no familiarity with any Turkic or Altaic languages.



I have never heard "kumis" used as a family name and have not run across the word in any of the non-railroad historical materials dealing with Roanoke or Montgomery Counties. It would be interesting to check the 1898 USGS Topo maps and see if there was any use of that word as a word referencing places just prior to the construction of the Virginian Railway. However, the USGS Topos for that period do not appear to have been digitized yet.



So, how did "Kumis" get to Roanoke County, Virginia...?



Sorry to play the part of the philologist... it's just ingrained.



-- abram burnett,
transplanted virginian domiciling in pennsyl-slavia

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20120222/96292334/attachment.htm>


More information about the NW-Mailing-List mailing list