What’s in a name? A lot, apparently

I continue to get a lot of good feedback on the Muscle Shoals vs. Mussel Shoals issue.

Stuart W. McGregor recently sent me a copy of an article he wrote in the Spring 2002 issue of “Alabama Heritage” magazine.

The article, “The Mussels of Muscle Shoals,” was interesting. But the reason McGregor sent it to me is because of a short sidebar called “Mussel or Muscle?” that peers into the two

spellings.

For such a short sidebar, there was a lot of research and some interesting points, and it mentions that early maps have both versions of the spelling for the city.

According to the article, there are differing views on the name’s origin.

It credits Arnold E. Ortmann, who was a malacologist (they study mollusks) in the early 20th century, with declaring in 1924 that the area was named for the mussels and that the “now official spelling should be discarded for the more correct one, ‘Mussel Shoals.’ ”

It also mentions an anonymous writer who discusses the matter in a 1941 book from the Work Projects Administration, “Alabama: A Guide to the Deep South.”

Apparently, that book describes early white river men who arrived in the Shoals in 1779 and set up a trading post.

According to the magazine article, the book states that they named the rapids “Muscle or Mussel Shoals, suggested either by the abundant shellfish or the strong arm muscles required to paddle a boat through the rapids.”

The article also mentions comments from Kent State University in Ohio biologist Ralph W. Dexter, who said in 1961 that “the spelling of ‘muscle’ in reference to bivalve mollusks was common in the Alabama-Tennessee region in early times.”

Dexter continues, “in general, use of the spelling ‘muscle’ is an old and obsolete form whereas ‘mussel’ is more recent and preferred.”

Dexter’s statement supports a theory from historian Donald Davidson.

According to the article, Davidson wrote in a 1946 book, “The Tennessee: The Old River Frontier to Secession,” that the city’s name might have “an antiquity greater than has previously been accredited.”

The bottom line, according to the “Alabama Heritage” article, is that the U.S. Board of Geographic Names chose “Muscle” as the official spelling in 1982 after the board didn’t find overwhelming evidence that the name should be changed to “Mussel Shoals.”

Staff Writer Bernie Delinski writes Just Ask, which runs Wednesdays in the TimesDaily. If you’ve got a question, e-mail it to bernie.delinski@TimesDaily.com, call him at 740-5739, fax it to 740-4717 or send it to Just Ask, c/o TimesDaily, P.O. Box 797, Florence, AL 35631.