Daguʻnawaʻlahi—“Mussel-liver place,” from daguʻna, mussel, uweʻla, liver, and hi, locative; the Cherokee name for the site of Nashville, Tenn. No reason can now be given for the name.
Dahlonega—A town in Lumpkin county, Ga., near which the first gold was mined. A mint was established there in 1838. The name is from the Cherokee dalaʻnigeʻi, yellow, whence ateʻla-dalaʻ-nigeʻi, “yellow money,” i. e., gold.
daksawaʻihu—“he is shedding tears.”
dakwaʻ—a mythic great fish; also the whale.
Dakwaʻi—“dakwa place,” from a tradition of a dakwaʻ in the river at that point. A former Cherokee settlement, known to the traders as Toqua or Toco, on Little Tennessee river, about the mouth of Toco creek in Monroe county, Tenn. A similar name and tradition attaches to a spot on the French Broad river, about six miles above the Warm springs, in Buncombe county, N. C.
dakwaʻnitlastesti—“I shall have them on my legs for garters”; from anitlaʻsti (plural dinitlaʻsti), garter; d-, initial plural; akwa, first person particle; and esti, future suffix.
daʻlikstaʻ—“vomiter,” from dagikʻstihuʻ, “I am vomiting,” dalikstaʻ, “he vomits” (habitually); the form is plural. The spreading adder (Heterodon), also sometimes called kwandayaʻhu, a word of uncertain etymology.
Daʻ nagasta—for Daʻ nawa-gastaʻya, “Sharp-war,” i. e., “Eager-warrior;” a Cherokee woman’s name.
Daʻ nawa-(a)sa tsunʻyi, “War-ford,” from daʻ nawa, war, and asa tsunʻyi, “a crossing-place or ford.” A ford on Cheowa river about three miles below Robbinsville, in Graham county, N. C.
Dandaʻganuʻ—“Two looking at each other,” from detsiʻganuʻ, “I am looking at him.” A former Cherokee settlement, commonly known as Lookout Mountain town, on Lookout Mountain creek, near the present Trenton, Dade county, Ga. One of the Chickamauga towns (see Tsiʻkamaʻgi), so-called on account of the appearance of the mountains facing each other across the Tennessee river at Chattanooga.