This article should specify the language of its non-English content, using {{
lang}}, {{
transliteration}} for transliterated languages, and {{
IPA}} for phonetic transcriptions, with an appropriate
ISO 639 code. Wikipedia's
multilingual support templates may also be used.See why.(May 2019)
This is a list of
English language words borrowed from
Indigenous languages of the Americas, either directly or through intermediate European languages such as
Spanish or
French. It does not cover names of ethnic groups or place names derived from Indigenous languages.
Most words of Native American/First Nations language origin are the
common names for indigenous flora and fauna, or describe items of
Native American or
First Nations life and culture. Some few are names applied in honor of Native Americans or First Nations peoples or due to a vague similarity to the original object of the word. For instance,
sequoias are named in honor of the Cherokee leader
Sequoyah, who lived 2,000 miles (3200 km) east of that tree's range, while the
kinkajou of South America was given a name from the unrelated North American
wolverine.
Since Native Americans and First Nations peoples speaking a language of the
Algonquian group were generally the first to meet English explorers and settlers along the
Eastern Seaboard, many words from these languages made their way into English.
The etymology is disputed: two possible sources are an Algonquian word for "counsel", 'cau´-cau-as´u'; or the Algonquian cawaassough, meaning an advisor, talker, or orator.[11]
From
Old Montagnaisaiachkimeou ([aːjast͡ʃimeːw]; modern ayassimēw), meaning "snowshoe-netter" (often incorrectly claimed to be from an
Ojibwe word meaning "eaters of raw [meat]"), and originally used to refer to the
Mikmaq.[16][17]
From
Unami Delaware/kələkːəˈnikːan/, "mixture" (c.f. Ojibwe giniginige "to mix something animate with something inanimate"),[2] from
Proto-Algonquian*kereken-, "mix (it) with something different by hand".[23]
From michilmackinac, from
Menominimishilimaqkināhkw, "be large like a snapping turtle",[citation needed] or from
Ojibwemishi-makinaak, "large snapping turtle" with French -ile-, "island".[citation needed]
From "mugquomp", a shortening of
Massachusett <muggumquomp>, "war chief" (
Proto-Algonquian*memekwa·pe·wa, from *memekw-, "swift" + *-a·pe·, "man").[31]
From
Powhatan <pessemins>/<pushemins>, reconstituted as */pessiːmin/.[42] While the final element reflects
Proto-Algonquian*-min, "fruit, berry", the initial is unknown.[43]
A low box-like sleigh designed for one horse. Shortened form of "tom-pung" (from the same etymon as "toboggan") from an Algonquian language of Southern New England.[51]
From an Algonquian language of southern New England, possibly meaning "small long place" (with <qunni->, "long" + <-s->,
diminutive + <-et>,
locative).[54]
From
Powhatan <tockawhoughe>/<tockwhough>/<taccaho>, "root used for bread", reconstituted as */takwahahk/[73] (perhaps from
Proto-Algonquian*takwah-, "pound (it)/reduce (it) to flour").[74]
Words of
Nahuatl origin have entered many European languages. Mainly they have done so via
Spanish. Most words of Nahuatl origin end in a form of the Nahuatl "
absolutive suffix" (-tl, -tli, or -li, or the Spanish adaptation -te), which marked unpossessed nouns.
Often said to be from Nahuatl xocolātl[38] or chocolātl,[89] which would be derived from xococ 'bitter' and ātl 'water' (with an irregular change of x to ch).[90] However, the form xocolātl is not directly attested, and chocolatl does not appear in Nahuatl until the mid-18th century. Some researchers have recently proposed that the chocol- element was originally chicol-, and referred to a special wooden stick used to prepare chocolate.[91]
from the
Inuktitut word saimo (
ᓴᐃᒧInuktitut pronunciation:[sa.iˈmo], a word of greeting, farewell, and
toast before drinking.[113] Used as a greeting and cheer
by the Canadian Military Engineers, and more widely in some parts of Southern Ontario and Western Canada, particularly in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan [citation needed]
from
Inuktitut word for polar bear Nanuq (
ᓇᓄᒃInuktitut pronunciation:[naˈnuq]),[116] "polar bear", made famous in English due to a 1922 documentary
Nanook of the North, featuring a man with this name.
Either named for the
Palouse River, whose name comes from
Sahaptinpalú:s, "what is standing up in the water"; or for
Opelousas, Louisiana, which may come from
Choctawapi losa, "black body".[167]
via
SpanishCaníbalis, from a
Cariban language, meaning "person, Indian",[171] (Proto-Cariban *karípona),[172] based on the Spaniards' belief that the Caribs ate human flesh.[173]
^Chamberlain, Alexander F. (1902). "Algonkian Words in American English: A Study in the Contact of the White Man and the Indian". The Journal of American Folklore. 15 (59): 240–267.
doi:
10.2307/533199.
JSTOR533199.
^Goddard, Ives (1984). "Synonymy". In "Arctic", ed. David Damas. Vol. 5 of Handbook of North American Indians, ed. William C. Sturtevant. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, pp. 5:5–6
^
abGoddard, Ives (1978). "Eastern Algonquian languages", in "Northeast", ed. Bruce G. Trigger. Vol. 15 of Handbook of North American Indians, ed. William C. Sturtevant. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, pg. 75
^
abcdForetescue, Michael, Steven Jacobson, and Lawrence Kaplan (1994). Comparative Eskimo Dictionary, with Aleut Cognates. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center
^
abcdeJensen, Cheryl (1999). "Tupí–Guaraní". In The Amazonian Languages, eds. R. M. W. Dixon and Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald, pp. 125–163. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 126
^or tz'onot in some secondary sources, such as Sharer & Traxler 2006: 52.
^Tim Scoones (producer), Jeff Goodman (photography), Dominique Rissolo (scientific adviser), Tom Iliffe (sci adv), Patricia Beddows (sci adv), Jill Yager (sci adv) (2005).
Secrets of the Maya Underworld (Television production).
BBC/
Discovery Channel. Event occurs at 3:07. Archived from
the original on 2014-04-22. Retrieved July 22, 2009.
Bright, William (2004). Native American Place Names of the United States. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press
Campbell, Lyle (1997). American Indian Languages: The Historical Linguistics of Native America. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Flexner, Stuart Berg and Leonore Crary Hauck, eds. (1987). The Random House Dictionary of the English Language [RHD], 2nd ed. (unabridged). New York: Random House.
Siebert, Frank T. (1975). "Resurrecting Virginia Algonquian from the Dead: The Reconstituted and Historical Phonology of Powhatan". In Studies in Southeastern Indian Languages, ed. James M. Crawford, pp. 285–453. Athens: University of Georgia Press
This article should specify the language of its non-English content, using {{
lang}}, {{
transliteration}} for transliterated languages, and {{
IPA}} for phonetic transcriptions, with an appropriate
ISO 639 code. Wikipedia's
multilingual support templates may also be used.See why.(May 2019)
This is a list of
English language words borrowed from
Indigenous languages of the Americas, either directly or through intermediate European languages such as
Spanish or
French. It does not cover names of ethnic groups or place names derived from Indigenous languages.
Most words of Native American/First Nations language origin are the
common names for indigenous flora and fauna, or describe items of
Native American or
First Nations life and culture. Some few are names applied in honor of Native Americans or First Nations peoples or due to a vague similarity to the original object of the word. For instance,
sequoias are named in honor of the Cherokee leader
Sequoyah, who lived 2,000 miles (3200 km) east of that tree's range, while the
kinkajou of South America was given a name from the unrelated North American
wolverine.
Since Native Americans and First Nations peoples speaking a language of the
Algonquian group were generally the first to meet English explorers and settlers along the
Eastern Seaboard, many words from these languages made their way into English.
The etymology is disputed: two possible sources are an Algonquian word for "counsel", 'cau´-cau-as´u'; or the Algonquian cawaassough, meaning an advisor, talker, or orator.[11]
From
Old Montagnaisaiachkimeou ([aːjast͡ʃimeːw]; modern ayassimēw), meaning "snowshoe-netter" (often incorrectly claimed to be from an
Ojibwe word meaning "eaters of raw [meat]"), and originally used to refer to the
Mikmaq.[16][17]
From
Unami Delaware/kələkːəˈnikːan/, "mixture" (c.f. Ojibwe giniginige "to mix something animate with something inanimate"),[2] from
Proto-Algonquian*kereken-, "mix (it) with something different by hand".[23]
From michilmackinac, from
Menominimishilimaqkināhkw, "be large like a snapping turtle",[citation needed] or from
Ojibwemishi-makinaak, "large snapping turtle" with French -ile-, "island".[citation needed]
From "mugquomp", a shortening of
Massachusett <muggumquomp>, "war chief" (
Proto-Algonquian*memekwa·pe·wa, from *memekw-, "swift" + *-a·pe·, "man").[31]
From
Powhatan <pessemins>/<pushemins>, reconstituted as */pessiːmin/.[42] While the final element reflects
Proto-Algonquian*-min, "fruit, berry", the initial is unknown.[43]
A low box-like sleigh designed for one horse. Shortened form of "tom-pung" (from the same etymon as "toboggan") from an Algonquian language of Southern New England.[51]
From an Algonquian language of southern New England, possibly meaning "small long place" (with <qunni->, "long" + <-s->,
diminutive + <-et>,
locative).[54]
From
Powhatan <tockawhoughe>/<tockwhough>/<taccaho>, "root used for bread", reconstituted as */takwahahk/[73] (perhaps from
Proto-Algonquian*takwah-, "pound (it)/reduce (it) to flour").[74]
Words of
Nahuatl origin have entered many European languages. Mainly they have done so via
Spanish. Most words of Nahuatl origin end in a form of the Nahuatl "
absolutive suffix" (-tl, -tli, or -li, or the Spanish adaptation -te), which marked unpossessed nouns.
Often said to be from Nahuatl xocolātl[38] or chocolātl,[89] which would be derived from xococ 'bitter' and ātl 'water' (with an irregular change of x to ch).[90] However, the form xocolātl is not directly attested, and chocolatl does not appear in Nahuatl until the mid-18th century. Some researchers have recently proposed that the chocol- element was originally chicol-, and referred to a special wooden stick used to prepare chocolate.[91]
from the
Inuktitut word saimo (
ᓴᐃᒧInuktitut pronunciation:[sa.iˈmo], a word of greeting, farewell, and
toast before drinking.[113] Used as a greeting and cheer
by the Canadian Military Engineers, and more widely in some parts of Southern Ontario and Western Canada, particularly in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan [citation needed]
from
Inuktitut word for polar bear Nanuq (
ᓇᓄᒃInuktitut pronunciation:[naˈnuq]),[116] "polar bear", made famous in English due to a 1922 documentary
Nanook of the North, featuring a man with this name.
Either named for the
Palouse River, whose name comes from
Sahaptinpalú:s, "what is standing up in the water"; or for
Opelousas, Louisiana, which may come from
Choctawapi losa, "black body".[167]
via
SpanishCaníbalis, from a
Cariban language, meaning "person, Indian",[171] (Proto-Cariban *karípona),[172] based on the Spaniards' belief that the Caribs ate human flesh.[173]
^Chamberlain, Alexander F. (1902). "Algonkian Words in American English: A Study in the Contact of the White Man and the Indian". The Journal of American Folklore. 15 (59): 240–267.
doi:
10.2307/533199.
JSTOR533199.
^Goddard, Ives (1984). "Synonymy". In "Arctic", ed. David Damas. Vol. 5 of Handbook of North American Indians, ed. William C. Sturtevant. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, pp. 5:5–6
^
abGoddard, Ives (1978). "Eastern Algonquian languages", in "Northeast", ed. Bruce G. Trigger. Vol. 15 of Handbook of North American Indians, ed. William C. Sturtevant. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, pg. 75
^
abcdForetescue, Michael, Steven Jacobson, and Lawrence Kaplan (1994). Comparative Eskimo Dictionary, with Aleut Cognates. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center
^
abcdeJensen, Cheryl (1999). "Tupí–Guaraní". In The Amazonian Languages, eds. R. M. W. Dixon and Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald, pp. 125–163. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 126
^or tz'onot in some secondary sources, such as Sharer & Traxler 2006: 52.
^Tim Scoones (producer), Jeff Goodman (photography), Dominique Rissolo (scientific adviser), Tom Iliffe (sci adv), Patricia Beddows (sci adv), Jill Yager (sci adv) (2005).
Secrets of the Maya Underworld (Television production).
BBC/
Discovery Channel. Event occurs at 3:07. Archived from
the original on 2014-04-22. Retrieved July 22, 2009.
Bright, William (2004). Native American Place Names of the United States. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press
Campbell, Lyle (1997). American Indian Languages: The Historical Linguistics of Native America. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Flexner, Stuart Berg and Leonore Crary Hauck, eds. (1987). The Random House Dictionary of the English Language [RHD], 2nd ed. (unabridged). New York: Random House.
Siebert, Frank T. (1975). "Resurrecting Virginia Algonquian from the Dead: The Reconstituted and Historical Phonology of Powhatan". In Studies in Southeastern Indian Languages, ed. James M. Crawford, pp. 285–453. Athens: University of Georgia Press