Holy Agnetha Faltskog! The Wataree People of South and North Carolina could be ancestors of the English!
History is often stranger than fiction. For new POOF readers, I should explain that all of our research is always in flux. What is true today might be only part of the truth tomorrow. Earlier this year, when we were focusing on Western North Carolina and the Up Country of South Carolina, I assumed that the ancestors of the Wataree (Guatari in 16th century Spanish chronicles) were the Wata People from the Amazon Basin. However, the “re” suffix is pure Bronze Age Celtic and means “people or tribe.” Well . . . just read that the archaic word for water in the Netherlands, Friesland and Jutland (western Denmark) was Watar or Water. This is the region where the Angles, Saxons and Jutes came from before invading Britania. Their ancestors would have spoken an Archaic Celtic language during the Bronze Age . . . SO their words for Water People would have been Watar-re. The Creek names for the Uchee meant “Water People” or “Offspring from Water.” I really need to get a Time Machine.
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