Existing comment:
Names and Places:
"As far as could be learned, neither the Apache nor the Yavapai of the Clarksdale region had any name for the ruin itself..."
-- From: Tuzigoot, Caywood and Spicer, 1935
When archeologists Caywood and Spencer sought a name for the project site, Ben Lewis (a Tonto Apache on the excavation crew) suggested Tu zighoot (TWO-see-WHOODT), meaning "crooked water."
Everyone present liked the "ring" of the word, and thus the name was adopted. However, as often happens in translations, Caywood and Spicer spelled and pronounced the word as Tuzigoot (TWO-zee-goot), which is nonsensical in Apache.
Yavapai elders call the area Aha-gahlahkvah, which also means "crooked water." |