How do you pronounce Kissimmee?

Answer 1

Here in Central Florida, which is where Kissimmee is located, most people say Kiss SIM ee. Most visitors, however, tend to put the stress on the first syllable. Since it is a word derived from aboriginal Americans (American Indians, Native Americans) its hard to say exactly how they would have pronounced it. I haven't found any information as to what the word actually means, but the following is taken from the city's website, http://www.kissimmee.org/a_insidekissimmee.aspx?id=531: Local historians have offered many variations of the origin of the City's name. Most agree that Kissimmee is a modern spelling of a tribal word. The book, Florida Indians and the Invasion from Europe by Jerald T. Milanich, links "Kissimmee" to a village of the Jororo, one of Florida's lesser-known tribes. Historian John Hann researched Spanish documents about missions established to convert the Jororo and other groups to Christianity in the late 1600s. Spanish records indicate that a mission was built near the tribe's main village, also called Jororo. Another mission was called Atissimi. Milanich writes, "Hann suggests that the name Atissimi, sometimes given as Jizimi and Tisimi, may be the source of the modern place name Kissimmee." A 1752 Spanish map used the name "Cacema," which has evolved into today's spelling of Kissimmee.