The Arawakan meaning of Guajiro

 Q: On Wikipedia, it says that the Cuban word "guajiro" (which means a campesino or farmer and is the name of a certain style of Latin music) comes from an Arawak word meaning "lord" or "powerful man" but it says this is from an unreliable source. Can you confirm if it is true?

A: Yes, this is true. It comes from the Wayuu word "washirü," which means "rich" or "powerful" and was also used as a respectful way to address a man, like "sir." This word became the name of a Wayuu settlement in Colombia, whose name then became La Guajira in Spanish, and the Wayuu people (who are an Arawakan tribe) also became commonly known as Guajiros.

In Colombia, the word "Guajiro" can refer either to the indigenous Wayuu people, or to people of any ethnicity who live in the La Guajira region. In parts of the Caribbean, the word began to mean rural or rustic, and over time lost its association with Arawak or Indian people. In the well-known Cuban song whose refrain is "Guajira Guantanamera," that is not meant to suggest that the young lady is an Arawak, only that she is a country girl.

Hope that is interesting, have a good day!

Further reading
Wayuu language

Guajajara last names

Q:  I was looking up an article about an indigenous activist who was killed last year, Paulo Guajajara. On the website I saw two other people, a politician (Sonia Guajajara) and an artist (Jahy Guajajara), who also have the same last name. But when I went to the links, I could not find any information to tell me if they are relatives or it's just a common last name for indigenous people in Brazil to have, can you explain?

A: Last names are not traditional in most indigenous tribes of South America. Many Native people have adopted Spanish or Portuguese last names, and some continue to use single names with no last name at all, but in some communities, indigenous people simply began using their tribal name as a surname. Guajajara is actually a tribe in Brazil, with almost 15,000 members, and most of them have the same last name. This is confusing to outsiders, but represents a strong sense of tribal identity to the people.

As far as I know, Paulo Guajajara was not a literal relative of Sonia Guajajara, but they are members of the same tribe.

Hope that helps!

Further reading:
Guajajara language
Indigenous people of Brazil
Native American names

Terrapins

 

Q: I was told that the word "terrapin" means "good to eat" in Native American, but I can't find it again. Do you know what language this comes from?

A: "Terrapin" was borrowed into English from an Algonquian word-- probably the Powhatan word torobe, which means "turtle." The Powhatan language is no longer spoken, but there are similar words meaning turtle in related Algonquian languages which are still spoken today, such as doleba (Abenaki) and tulpei (Lenape).

None of them mean "edible," "good to eat" or "tastes good," though. They only refer to turtles. The Abenaki word for "good to eat" is wigatôzo.

Hope that is interesting to you. Have a good day!

Further reading:

Powhatan language
Abenaki language
Lenape language
Native American turtles
   

Pronunciation of "Acaxee"

Q: How do you pronounce "Acaxee?"

A: Good question. Unfortunately, the answer is no one knows for sure. The Acaxee language has not been spoken since the 1600's, and the one Jesuit grammar of the language has been lost.

We can make some good guesses though. According to Spanish spelling conventions in Mexico during the 16th and 17th centuries, we would expect a word the Spanish wrote down as "Acaxee" to be pronounced either ah-kah-shay, ah-kah-hay, or ah-kah-jay (with a raspy "j" as in "jalapeño.) The letter "x" was used to represent all three of these sounds at that time.

However, if we look through other Spanish texts, we can see the name was sometimes spelled Acage or Acajee. Since "g" and "j" can both be pronounced as  either "h" or the raspy "j" sound, but never as "sh," we can rule that out.

And finally, it is believed that Acaxee was a Taracahitic language, similar to Mayo or Yaqui. Neither of those languages has any j-as-in-jalapeño sound, but they do both have an h-as-in-hay sound. It is a reasonable guess that Acaxee would have been similar.

Therefore, our best guess is that Acaxee was probably pronounced ah-kah-hay.

Hope that helps, have a good day!

Further reading:
Acaxee language

Black Hawk

Q: An old Sauk woman told us that Black Hawk's name was mistranslated into English and should really be  He-Who-Walks-In-The-Shadow-Of-The-Hawk or Shadow Hawk. My  question is: how do I properly pronounce his correct name in his language. Names are important and should be spoken correctly. Any help you can give us to properly pronouncing Chief Black-Hawk's name in his own language will be much appreciated and gratefully received.

A:  Black Hawk's name in Sauk was Mahkateewimešikeehkeehkwa. That is pronounced similar to mah-kah-tay-wih-meh-shih-kay-kay-kwuh. 

I'm not really sure what the lady was trying to say about walking in shadows. There's nothing in this name about walking or shadows, but perhaps something was implied by his name that was only known to people of the older generation. Traditional Algonquian names sometimes had clan implications beyond their literal translations. We can tell you that literally, what this name means is "great black sparrowhawk." Mahkateewi means black, meši means big or great, and keehkeehkwa is the word for a sparrowhawk.

Hope that helps, have a good day!

Further reading:
Sauk language
Sac and Fox people
Hawk mythology   

Names that could be offensive?

Q: Hello. I hate to bother you, but before reading your website, I never realized that some
Native American names could be offensive, so I was wondering if you could clarify what sort of names one shouldn't take for a child. I don't want to accidentally be that guy. Thank you.

A:  Thanks for writing. The most important thing is to avoid the names of historical figures unless you're a direct descendant of theirs. The names of people who have died are considered very sacred cultural property by many tribes, so giving a baby a name like that could indeed be offensive. The names of tribes, like Dakota and Cheyenne, are not necessarily considered offensive as baby names, but they definitely seem to be on the odd side to many Native Americans, because they're the names of nations. It would be like naming babies "Netherlands" and "Mexico." Native American names of animals, plants, stars, and so on are not ordinarily considered offensive and are commonly used as everyday first names, but you still should probably do a little bit of research first-- some animals have negative connotations in some tribes but not in others, for example. You would not want to give a child a name meaning "owl" in the language of a tribe where owls are ill omens of death.

Hope that is the information you were looking for. Have a good night!

Further reading:
Native American names
Native American nations
Native American mythology

Nihzoni

Q: Hello! I found your website. My fiance is in love with the word Nihzoni.  Is this a name suitable for a baby boy?

A:  Thanks for writing. Yes-- you have the spelling slightly off, it is really spelled Nizhoni. But this name definitely means beauty and harmony in the Navajo language.

I can't say I've ever heard of it used as a boy's name before. I know one woman named Nizhoni, and have heard of several others. But the word itself is gender-neutral in Navajo, so there would be no reason why you COULDN'T use it as a boy's name, just that it isn't typically done.

Hope that answers your questions, have a good day!

Further reading:
Navajo language
Native American baby names
Navajo people   

Cherokee for Heather

Q: My wife and I are expecting our first baby and want to name the little girl Heather. What would her Cherokee name be and is there any meaning behind that purple lil' flower named heather?

A:  Thanks for writing. There is no traditional Cherokee word for heather, because the heather plant was not originally native to North America. You will have the best luck finding words for heather in European languages, North African languages, and parts of Asia.


Here is a good website about the heather plant: http://www.scribd.com/doc/11936057/North-American-Heather-Society-Heather-Basics

Hope that helps, have a good day!
Native Languages of the Americas


Further reading:
Native American plants
Native American words  

Aponi

Q: Hello, I am looking for the correct spelling and pronunciation of
the word butterfly. I see it most commonly spelled Aponi.
One website said it is a variant of the Blackfoot word
Apaniwa but that it is often shortened to just Apani. I have
seen it spelled: Aponi, Apani, Apponi, Appani, Aponni, Apanni,
Aponii, Apanii

Which of these, if any, are correct? If none of them are,
what is? I wish to be accurate and I know the internet is
not reliable. Thank You.

A:  Thanks for writing. The Blackfoot language was traditionally unwritten, so the spellings of Blackfoot words in English sometimes vary a lot, as you've seen. For the same reason there really is no "right" spelling. However, in the modern Blackfoot orthography (spelling system) which is most commonly used, this word is spelled Apaniiwa or just Apanii. ("-wa" is a common animate suffix in Blackfoot and is not always pronounced by all speakers of the language, so the word is sometimes pronounced uh-pah-nee-wuh and other times uh-pah-nee.)

Hope that helps, have a good day!
Native Languages of the Americas


Further reading:
Blackfoot language
Blackfoot tribe
Native American names 

Oota Dabun

Q: I am trying to research the etymology of a supposed Algonquin name before I use it in a project. The name is Oota Dabun and supposedly means "Day Star." I have been unable to find any reference to this outside name sites and have absolutly no clue about Native American languages-- is there any truth to this?

A: Thanks for writing. The good news is I believe I've tracked down the origin of this supposed name: Silas Rand's 1888 dictionary of the Micmac language, which you can see here.

The bad news is, none of our Micmac volunteers recognize this word whatsoever. It's definitely not the word for "day" (na'kwek) or the word for "star" (kloqowej). "Day star" seems to be an old Biblical reference to Venus, and Rand was a missionary, so I guess he must have been referring to Venus as well, but whatever the original Micmac word was he was trying to write down, it's not something any of us knows.

Sorry not to be more help. Best wishes!

Further reading:
Micmac language
Micmac Indians
American Indian names  

Heng, God of Typos

Q: I found a reference to an Iroquois Storm God named Heng. Can you please tell me which Iroquois tribe this god came from because I cannot find anything else about him anywhere.

A: We're pretty sure this is a typographical error. The thunder god is named Hinon in Iroquois mythology (pronounced similar to hee-noan or hee-noon, with a half-pronounced "n" sound as in French.) This name is spelled many different ways, partially because of dialect differences and partially because all the Iroquois languages were traditionally unwritten: Hino, Hinu, Hinun, Heno, etc. In some orthographies, particularly those used by linguists, the character "ǫ" is used for the nasal vowel at the end. Most likely, somebody at some point misread "Henǫ" as "Heng," or even just mistakenly printed a "g" instead of an "o" (this kind of error happens all the time in OCR texts converted from old anthopology books.) It's definitely not pronounced Heng in any of the Iroquoian languages.

Tribes whose traditional mythology included Hinon, in any of his spelling variants, include the Mohawk, Wyandot/Huron, Seneca, Cayuga, and Tuscarora.

Hope that helps, have a good day!
Native Languages of the Americas


Further reading:
Hinon
The Iroquois tribes
Native American gods

Siaska

Q: Hi, I am looking for the name of a great great grandma of mine. She is called See As Kau on the petition of one of the treaties. A person with knowledge of the HoChunk language thought her name may be Siaska of the bear clan. What are your thoughts? Any idea of the meaning and why she was given the name? I would appreciate your input as it took me so many years to gather this information.

A: Seems plausible to us. It's hard to know for sure with proper names from many years ago, since they've usually been written down somewhat randomly by non-native speakers. Siaska means "sweet foot" or "delicious paw," more or less, referring to a bear's paw. But I know from experience how divergent those treaty spellings can get. It could have been Cehaska, "white robe." It could have been Sįaska, "good rice" (though that seems like a very unlikely Siouan personal name-- could have been a nickname though.) It's hard to completely confirm a person's actual name from a single spelling in a ledger. We can agree with your friend that "sweet foot" is a believable name, though! Here's a book where it's listed as a Bear Clan name (spelled Si-asga): The Winnebago Tribe.

Hope that helps, have a good day!
Native Languages of the Americas


Further reading:
Ho-Chunk language
Ho-Chunk tribe
Native American names

Akouessen or Ohquese

Q: My many times great-grandfather lived in Montreal (Ville Marie), Huronia and Longueuil, Quebec circa 1640-1685. He was called Akoussen and Ohquese which I understood to mean ‘Partridge’ but have recently found out that the partridge did not exist in North America at that time. Do you know of any books or stories that involve or explain that term in the Mohawk, Onondaga or general Iroquois history?

A: Thank you for writing. There weren't partridge in North America but there were grouse, which were called "partridge" in a lot of early colonial literature, and the Mohawk word for grouse is very similar to what you describe, ahkwesen (pronounced similar to ah-kway-sun, with a half pronounced N sound at the end.) Since the letters "ou" were commonly used to spell "w" sounds in French, it seems likely to me that this word was the source of both the spellings you gave. The Oneida word for grouse is also similar, Ohkwe:sv: (pronounced oh-kway-sun-- the "v" is usually written upside down, which I'm unable to accomplish with this font!) The Onondaga word for grouse is completely different, however (nų:nya:gae'i.)

Hope that's interesting to you, have a good day!

Native Languages of the Americas

Further reading:
Mohawk pronunciation
Oneida pronunciation
Iroquois Indians
Grouse symbolism

Shappa

Q: Is it true that Shappa means Red Thunder in Sioux?

A: No, it's not. Baby name websites claim that "Shappa" means "Red Thunder" in a Sioux language, but this is false. "Red Thunder" is Wakinyan-Luta in Lakota or Wakinyan-Duta in Dakota. "Shappa" means "dirty" if you sound it out phonetically (shah-pah), but historically, this was the English way of spelling a Lakota man's name Capa (chah-pah), which means "beaver." The mistake apparently came about because there was a Dakota man named Shappa (Capa) who became chief and took the honorific name Wackhawendutah (Wakinyan-Duta).

Hope that helps, have a good day!
Native Languages of the Americas


Further reading:
Dakota language
Sioux Indians
Native American names

Aponi

Q: I am the proud father of a new baby girl. My wife and I have an international family, so we had to find a name that would work (and be pronounceable) in all the languages we and/or our families speak. After a long search, we settled on the name of Aponi. Aponi is described, on French and American baby-naming websites, as being a "Native-American name meaning butterfly."

We love the name Aponi, its sound and its meaning. But I'd really like to know what language this word comes from, if it's even Native American at all. Can you help me answer this question?

A: Congratulations on your new daughter! Although those online baby name sites are notoriously inaccurate, you are in luck... you picked a name that actually does have Native American roots. It comes from the Blackfoot Indian word Apaniiwa (pronounced ah-pah-nee-wuh), which is often just spelled and pronounced Apani (ah-pah-nee) by many Blackfoot speakers. (The extra "-wa" is an animate noun ending that is oftentimes dropped by Blackfoot speakers.) It does indeed mean "butterfly."

Hope that helps, have a good day!
Native Languages of the Americas


Further reading:
Blackfoot language
American Indian baby names
American Indian butterfly legends

Chief Seattle

Q: Can you tell me what's the proper way to spell Chief Seattle's name? Some places say Seattle but others say Si'ahl.

A: There's no single correct way to spell Chief Seattle's name. His native language (Puget Sound Salish, also known as Lushootseed) was never a written language, so there is no traditional way to write Salish words-- in Chief Seattle's time, there was not even a Salish alphabet or writing system at all. English speakers just wrote them down however they happened to hear them, resulting in very inconsistent spellings. Seattle is also spelled Si'ahl, Si'aɫ, Sealth, and many other ways. It's pronounced similar to see-alth... the final consonant sound is a lateral fricative sound like the "ll" in the Welsh name "Llewellyn."

In the Duwamish tribe, where Seattle ruled as chief, the correct way to spell Chief Seattle's name in the modern orthography is Si'ahl. But in many other Lushootseed-speaking tribes, the standard spelling of the same name is Si'aɫ.

Hope that's helpful, have a good day!

Native Languages of the Americas

Further reading:
Lushootseed language
Salishan tribes
Native American names

Sokanon

Q: I am wondering, is Sokanon a real name?  I  came to the conclusion that I would like to look for a baby name meaning "rain" or "rainbow" and I found Sokanon. Does this mean "rain" in Algonquin? Thank you.

A: "Sokanon" is not an Algonquin word-- it is probably a corruption of the Narragansett word sokenun, which means "rain." Narragansett is distantly related to Algonquin and belongs to the Algonquian language family. It's not uncommon at all for words from other Algonquian languages to be misidentified as "Algonquin."

The Algonquin word for "rain" is kimiwan (pronounced similar to kih-mih-wun) if you were curious.

Have a good day!

Native Languages of the Americas


Further reading:
Native American baby names
Algonquin language
Narragansett language