![]() Whether these words have any relation to the modern term Melungeon is a point of debate and can only further stoke the mystery of who the Melungeon people of Appalachia are. The Turkish also have a term known as melun that can mean cursed soul. Older words such as Melan in Greek refer to one who has dark skin. In French, the word Mélange refers to mixture giving the context of a mixed racial group. ![]() The term Melungeon is a point of debate having similar relations in multiple languages but no definitive origin. Others say they are a lost tribe of Indians having no date of their existence here, traditionally or otherwise.” (Jarvis 1903) ![]() Some have said these people were here when the white people first explored this country. It is not a traditional name or tribe of Indians. They have been derisively dubbed with the name “Melungeons” by the local white people who have lived here with them. The debate regarding the origin of the Melungeon people is an old one and can be seen in the testimony of Captain Lewis Jarvis regarding his encounters with Melungeon people in his writing in the Hancock County News in 1903, “Much has been said and written about the inhabitants of Newman’s Ridge and Blackwater in Hancock County, Tenn. The origins and ethnicity of the Melungeons are a point of debate however there are multiple documents and cultural similarities that can be used to determine who the Melungeons most likely are. Within the Appalachian Mountains, from the mountainous regions of Tennessee and Virginia, to parts of Kentucky, there has traditionally been a group of people known as the Melungeons.
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