RAN SOM may mean, "RAIN DIMIMISHS."

Ft. RANSOM is an odd name. The "RANSOM" event is not known. Names of places usually persist if the people in the surrounding region use the name repeatedly. A "RANSOM" event may not have been known to many people in the surrounding region. Let us investigate the hypothesis that the "RAM SOM"syllables were Algonquin. The syllables might have been used by the "Indians" to name the place for some reason. We can look up the Algonquin syllables in the VIKING and the RED MAN volumes. For example, in volume 5, we find:

So, "RAN" appears to be an Algonquin syllable meaning, "rain." In volume six, page 112, we find:

The evelution of "SAMAKAW"to "SOM" follows known translations of words over time: 1. Vowels are interchangeable. "A"-"O" are more interchangeable than other pair of vowels. 2. Syllables at the end of the word may be may be lost over time. "AKAW"may have been lost over time. 3. People of a different language may hear different words. An English person would have been more likely to think he heard "RANSOM" than the RANSOMakaw"spoken by an Algonquin. The meaning "Rain is crushed" is just as valid as the word "RANSOM" refering to a ransom event with no ransom story known. Ft. RANSOM region lies on the N-S continental divide and on a region where yearly rainfall swiftly "becomes low" "RANSOM" is just as likely to mean "Rain becomes low" as a Ransom event with no Ransom story. Buck wrote, "Ft. Ransom was built in 1867 to protect the railroad workers from the Sioux and was named for Civil War Major General Thomas Ransom. Myron wrote, Jan 19, 2021, 10:31 AM (2 days ago) Thanks, for the info. After reading Wikipedia and discover that Ransom was never in North Dakota, Myron wrote again, "The fort may have been named for Ransom by someone who knew Ransom.  But the fort was built three years later.  Many other forts were built by then.  The names of most of them are lost.  Ransom should have been used for a fort in one of the states he actually lived in. The name in North Dakota may have been a phrase used by the people of North Dakota and someone, who knew Ransom, may have remembered the man, and applied the story of Ransom to the fort. Ft. Ransom is another "chicken or egg" situation.  You may remember the "Chicken" as recorded by people, who knew the man.  I prefer to believe the "eggs," spoken by people of the region, who knew the words. We can disagree on how the word "Ransom" came to be applied to a fort in North Dakota.  The place is now Ft. Ransom. That is a fact we can agree on. Have a good one. Myron PS: This is the third "Chicken and egg" episode that I (Myron) know about. There is "Norman" Oklahoma, which the "history" people say was named for a railroad worker. Norman lies on a river full of Old Norse names. "Wannett" (water place) is one of them. "Borger"(Boring gear) is another. As a young man, I camped at Pointsett (Nice place). My own mother wrote that Pointsett was named for a politian, who gave a speech one day. He left town the same day. Near by lakes are "Marsh," which is an Old Norse name, Norden, ditto, and Arlington, (Arrow place town. My hypothesis is that place names exist because people used them in the original (Old Norse) language. The names persisted when people with a new language moved in. Then the new people, who did not know what the old words meant, found a person with a name, which could be used to explain why "Ransom," "Norman," or "pointsett" had the names they have.