tepee

[Sioux típi, dwelling.]

(click to enlarge)
Tepees in Banff, Alta., Can. (credit: Alpha)

Tall conical tent dwelling used by the Plains Indians of North America. It was suited to nomadic buffalo hunting because it could be easily dismantled and transported. It was made by stretching a sewn cover of buffalo skins over a skeleton of 20 – 30 wooden poles, all slanted in toward a central point and tied together near the top. A flap at the top allowed smoke to escape, and a flap at the bottom served as a doorway. The tepee became a popular symbol of all American Indians, although the wickiup, hogan, igloo, longhouse, earth lodge, and pueblo were at least as important.

For more information on tepee, visit Britannica.com.

Long before trailers were invented, Americans enjoyed mobile homes. Long before English was spoken in North America, Plains Indians moved from place to place throughout the year, taking their homes with them. They had lightweight, comfortable, collapsible structures that the Dakota and Lakota called tepees (or teepees or tipis; we agree on the English pronunciation but have not reached consensus on the spelling). The word is used in English descriptions of Indian life as early as 1743.

Tepees were tall, cone-shaped, family-sized tents made of animal skins wrapped around poles. When buffalo were abundant, tepees were made of buffalo hide. After the men hunted down the buffalo, the women prepared the hide, scraping it, soaking it for several days so the hair would be easy to remove, washing it, working in a mash made of buffalo brain, then finally sewing hides together. A dozen or more hides would be required for each tepee.

A well-built tepee would have smoke "ears" to vent fires and allow air circulation, and a dew cloth to absorb humidity and prevent drafts. It would be painted on the outside. The door faced east, away from the prevailing wind and toward the morning sun. The tepee was a sacred place as well as a residence; the floor represented the earth, the walls the sky, and the poles the pathways from earth to the world of the spirits. Behind the fireplace there would be a family altar, a simple space of bare earth on which incense was burned.

Before the Europeans came, dogs pulled the poles of the tepees when the community moved. After horses were available, they provided the motive power. Wood was scarce on the Plains, and some of the traveling was done to get wood for the poles.

Dakota and Lakota are two varieties of the language spoken by the people who call themselves collectively Oceti Sakowin. They are also known as Sioux, a term they avoid because it is a derogatory epithet originally used by their enemies the Ojibwa. The language of the Oceti Sakowin belongs to a family linguists called Siouan, which also includes Catawba. Today there are about 20,000 speakers of Dakota and 6,000 of Lakota in the Dakotas, Minnesota, and Nebraska. One other word from Dakota is wahoo (1857), a shrub also called arrowwood because it was used for arrows and burning bush, bursting heart, and strawberry bush because of its pink berries.

Dansk (Danish)
n. - (spidst) indianertelt, tipi

Nederlands (Dutch)
tipi (indianentent)

Français (French)
n. - tipi, tente d'indien

Deutsch (German)
n. - Tipi

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - αντίσκηνο (ερυθρόδερμων)

Italiano (Italian)
tipi

Português (Portuguese)
n. - tenda (f) indígena

Русский (Russian)
вигвам

Español (Spanish)
n. - tienda típica de los indios pieles rojas

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - tepee (indiantält)

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
印第安人的圆锥形帐篷

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 印第安人的圓錐形帳篷

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 원추형 천막집

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - テント小屋, ティーピー

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) خيمه مخروطيه من جلد ( من خيام الهنود الحمر), التيبه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮טיפי - אוהל אינדיאני חרוטי‬

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