HOME |
RED EARTH |
Issues
Indian Influence & Contributions
to America and the world
Compiled and written by John Two-Hawks
know that words which contain one syllable are the only original English or
Anglo-Saxon words? All of the rest of the words you use have come from
other tongues, including American Indian languages.
Indian words for animals were adopted into the English language
when
Europeans first came to America. They had never seen many
of the
animals and didn’t have names for them. Therefore, they adopted
American Indian names like moose, caribou, raccoon, opossum,
chipmunk, chigger, cougar, and jaguar.
Explorers and English-speaking settlers also adopted Indian
words for
plants and trees that were new to them: tobacco, tomato, potato,
hickory,
pecan, mahogany, maize (corn), squash, avocado, papaya and
tapioca are
are just some examples. All of these names were adopted from
different
Indian Nations and different American Indian languages.
'Okay' and 'Blizzard' originated with Indians, as did the word
'Yankee' (which means white snake).
Indian geographical names are even more noticeable. Alabama,
Mississippi, Texas and Arizona were named by Indians. Some
names
reflect the tribes which lived in the area, such as the Dakota,
Illini, Kansa
and Massachuset. In fact, 27 of the 50 states get their
names from Indian
languages. And approx. 67% of all street and city names are Indian
related!
Other names describe the land. 'Minnesota' is Dakota for "waters
that
reflect the sky," 'Michigan' is an Ojibwe word for "great
water," and
'Nebraska' means "flat water" in the Omaha language. 'Chicago'
is derived
from an Indian word for wild onions.
Many 'English' words are actually Indian words
