Ain Tain Tether Fether

Q: Can you help me? My great grandmother was born in Missouri. My father had 3 brothers and 4 sisters and all were taught this count by their grandmother. They all said it the same.  I do not know the accurate spelling but can only spell as how it sounds. They said that she was Indian. However have not found her or family on any roll. The count sounds like this: Ain, Tain, Tether, Fether, Fip, Sata, Rata, Poe, Aindic, Taindic, Featherdic, Yaya, Koo

There were 20 numbers but that is all I can remember.  Does this sound like any Indian count to you?  OR,,,is this Gaelic? If you could enlighten me on this or guide me to where I could find out more I would greatly appreciate it.  This has been a puzzle in our family for almost 100 years. 

A:  Yep, that's Gaelic (Celtic to be more precise!) It's an old sheep-counting rhyme from England; here are some websites about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yan_tan_tethera
http://www.lakelanddialectsociety.org/counting_sheep.htm

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

Further reading:
Native American numbers
Indian counting rhyme  

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  

Grandson in Apache

Q: Hello, my family is Apache from Arizona. Could you please tell me how to say son and grandson in Apache.

A: "My son" is "shiye" in Western Apache. "My grandson" is "shinalé" if it's your son's child, or "shiwóyé" if it's your daughter's child.

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


Further reading:
Apache language
Apache tribe
Apache pronunciation 

Noon Way

Q: When I was a kid, I attended Camp Kennebec in North Belgrade, Maine. The youngest campers were divided into Indian tribes (MicMac, Malacite, Penobscot, Passamoquoddy – all of the Abenaki nation).  Several times during the season, we had “Grand Council”.  I recall that the “Sachem” would greet us saying something that sounds like “ayoon kooneyaasnay”  and we would respond  “noon way”.  Does that have any meaning in any of the Abenaki dialects or is it gibberish made up by the camp director?

A: It doesn't mean anything in any of the Wabanaki languages, but I bet it was borrowed from Lakota Sioux. Nunwe (pronounced somewhat similar to noon way) is a Lakota way of saying "Amen!" The other phrase may be corrupted Lakota too, though I don't recognize it. Let me post it and see if some of our native speakers can puzzle it out. :-)

 ETA: Yes, I believe these phrases were taken from a 1930 book called "Woodcraft and Indian Lore," which you can see here.

The language is definitely (slightly corrupted) Lakota Sioux, not Abenaki.

Have a good day!
Native Languages of the Americas

Further reading:
Abenaki language
Lakota Sioux language  
Sioux tribes

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

Hello and Goodbye in Tlingit

Q: I have searched everywhere but can not find how to say "hello," "goodbye," or "how are you" in the Tlingit language. Or is there another common greeting that is used?

A: Thanks for writing. Not all languages actually have words for "hello" or "goodbye." These words seem like they should be universal to English speakers, but in fact, not all cultures make verbal announcements when they meet another person or take their leave. In the Tlingit language, there is no traditional word for "hello" or "goodbye."

"How are you?" is "Wáa sá iyatee?" in Tlingit. That is pronounced similar to "wah sah ee-yah-te." But that is not generally used as a greeting. Modern Tlingit people sometimes greet each other with "Yak'éi yagiyee" which literally means "good day."

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


Further reading:
Tlingit language
Tlingit tribe
Native American words