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  

American Indian word for Vegetarian

Q: Hello, could you please settle a bet by telling me the true meaning of the American Indian word for "vegetarian" in any dialect. Thanks.

A:  I'm sorry, but we don't know of any Native American language which has a native word for "vegetarian." To the best of my knowledge there was no indigenous tribe in the Americas which practiced true vegetarianism (although there are many with heavily plant-based traditional diets.) We have one Native American volunteer in our organization who is personally a vegetarian and the explanation she gives in her language literally is "does not eat meat."

The idea that there is some Native American tribe out there which embraces vegetarianism probably comes from one of two sources:

1) A common confusion about "Indian religion" or about "American Indians" versus "Indian Americans." Many Hindu, Jainist, or other people from the country of India do indeed practice vegetarianism, and the ambiguous name "Indian" has caused many mistakes over the years.

2) A story about a fictional tribe of Native Americans who are vegetarians and whose tribal name, which was given to them by an adjacent tribe, means "lousy hunters." This is a joke, not a true story.


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


Further reading:
American Indian food
American Indian 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 

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