0
Native American Languages
Information and translations for Native American languages. Please note each tribe has its own language, and there is no single "Native American" language.
1,626 Questions
How do native Americans say yes?
Every tribe had its own language and its own word for yes. A few examples from North America, out of many thousands, are:
Algonquin...............................enhenh
Mahican...................................qâ
Mohegan.................................nuks
Natick......................................nuks, o
Powhatan................................cuppeh
Cheyenne................................heehe'e (said by women), haahe (said by men)
Arapaho...................................wohei, 'ine, hee, 'oo
Mi'kmaq....................................e'
Cayuga....................................ę
Onondaga...............................neto, naye, nis, heen
Shoshone................................oosh
Kiowa......................................haw
Comanche...............................haa, tsuh
Catawba.................................hi'm, hiimbaa, himba
Kalispel/Flathead.....................eu, ah, shei
Lakota.....................................han, hiya, to, tosh, ohan, hau
How do you say family in the Choctaw Native American language?
That depends on which tribe you mean. There were, and are, numerous native American languages, many with very different words for common things like family.
How do you say i miss you in shoshone?
aktalakota.stjo.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=8577 go here and find i miss you
What is the Choctaw word for paradise?
The Choctaw word for heaven or heavenly is oba. The written Choctaw language is based upon English version of the Roman alphabet.
What did the native Americans use to write with?
Writing in the strict sense was limited to only a very few Mexican and Central American groups - writing is defined as a language recorded by permanent marks made on a surface, so the glyphs used by the Aztecs and Maya qualify as writing, petroglyphs found across North America do not.
Maya texts were often carved in stone using stone hammers and chisels; writing on codexes was done with brushes of animal hairs set in bird quills, using red and black inks. Some texts were also painted on pottery, such as a famous cup bearing the glyphs for "cocoa".
Zapotec, Mixtec and Aztec texts are similarly in stone or on codex manuscripts made of deerskin sheets or a kind of paper made from pounded agave fibres, glued together in a long roll. Aztec scribes were called tlacuilo, meaning "he writes by painting".
It is still being debated among scholars whether the Moche, Nazca and Inca peoples of Peru had a writing system: in general it is thought that they did not.
Among the Plains tribes, a system of symbols was used as memory aids in the so-called "winter counts"; these are no more than lists of pictures to assist in recalling a specific event from each successive year but are not classed as writing. An example would be a horse next to an ear of corn, representing a particular incident when a large number of Pawnee horses were captured by the Lakota (the corn representing the Pawnee) - this is certainly not recording language.
Winter counts were usually painted on buffalo hides using natural mineral pigments and charcoal mixed with animal fat, applied with a small stick crushed at the end to make a kind of brush.
Many tribes produced signs on birch bark (a type of document called wikhegan) which, although not writing in the strict sense, could be interpreted by anyone understanding the system. The Passamaquoddy chief Sapiel Selmo produced a drawing scratched on birch bark with a knife, recording a hunting expedition and the types of animals killed - these include moose, bear, sables and caribou. The document is essentially a map showing rivers and lakes, pictures of the hunters and the animals, with marks indicating numbers against each type.
Most of the petroglyphs carved in rock across North America are probably religious symbols indicating water spirits or similar forces of nature.
What does Chicago mean in Indian?
There is no language called "Indian".
The name of the city of Chicago is a corrupted form of the Miami or Illinois word shikaakwa, meaning "wild onion" or "skunk smells".
What is a native American word for spirit?
There are more than 700 different Native American languages spoken. You would have to be more specific.
How many distinct languages existed in North America in pre-Columbian times?
It is impossible to answer that question since many languages existed and became extinct before there was anyone around to record them - that is the precise meaning of "prehistory" and we can only know about those very ancient times from the archaeological record, which does not preserve language.
It is estimated that in South America there have been many thousands of native languages, many long extinct; there were around 1,500 at first European contact. In Meso-America (Central America) there have been an unknown number of native languages and dialects, certainly several hundreds.
In North America there have been anywhere between 300 and 700 languages and dialects, many of them extinct long before European contact. Many of the archaic languages are completely unknown, such as the language or languages of the Adena, Hopewell and Clovis cultures which may each represent more than one tribe.
How do you say good morning in Sioux language?
"Good morning" is not an expression used in any native American language.
In Lakota a man would greet another with "Hau, khola" (greetings, friend), or perhaps Tanyán yahà yélo (I am glad you came) or Aké iyúškinyan wancÃnyankelo (I am glad to see you again).
What is the Navajo word for black paw?
The word for the color black in Navajo is: łizhiní
This is a a hard word for many English speakers. The first sound is in Navajo and Welsh but not in English. Put you tongue in the L position, don't use your voice and blow out on the sides of your tongue. The i is like in "bit' . The line over the vowels make them high tone. The zh is like in "pleasure".
What is the native American word for husband?
There are more than 700 different Native American languages spoken in North and South America. You will have to be more specific. If you are not sure which language you are talking about, here is a partial list of the most common Native American languages in North America:
- Abnaki, Eastern
- Achumawi
- Afro-Seminole Creole
- Ahtena
- Alabama
- Aleut
- Alsea
- Angloromani
- Apache, Jicarilla
- Apache, Kiowa
- Apache, Lipan
- Apache, Mescalero-Chiricahua
- Apache, Western
- Arapaho
- Arikara
- Assiniboine
- Atakapa
- Atsugewi
- Barbareño
- Biloxi
- Blackfoot
- Caddo
- Cahuilla
- Carolina Algonquian
- Carolinian
- Catawba
- Cayuga
- Chamorro
- Chehalis, Lower
- Chehalis, Upper
- Cherokee
- Chetco
- Cheyenne
- Chickasaw
- Chimariko
- Chinook
- Chinook Wawa
- Chippewa
- Chitimacha
- Choctaw
- Chumash
- Clallam
- Cocopa
- Coeur d'Alene
- Columbia-Wenatchi
- Comanche
- Coos
- Coquille
- Cowlitz
- Cree, Plains
- Crow
- Cruzeño
- Cupeño
- Dakota
- Degexit'an
- Delaware
- Delaware, Pidgin
- Esselen
- Evenki
- Eyak
- Galice
- Gros Ventre
- Gwich'in
- Halkomelem
- Han
- Havasupai-Walapai-Yavapai
- Hawai'i Creole English
- Hawai'i Pidgin Sign Language
- Hawaiian
- Hidatsa
- Ho-Chunk
- Holikachuk
- Hopi
- Hupa
- Ineseño
- Inupiaq
- Inupiatun, North Alaskan
- Inupiatun, Northwest Alaska
- Iowa-Oto
- Jemez
- Jingpho
- Kalapuya
- Kalispel-Pend D'oreille
- Kansa
- Karkin
- Karok
- Kashaya
- Kato
- Kawaiisu
- Keres, Eastern
- Keres, Western
- Kickapoo
- Kiowa
- Kitsai
- Klamath-Modoc
- Koasati
- Koyukon
- Kumiai
- Kuskokwim, Upper
- Kutenai
- Lakota
- Luiseño
- Lumbee
- Lushootseed
- Mahican
- Maidu, Northeast
- Maidu, Northwest
- Maidu, Valley
- Makah
- Malecite-Passamaquoddy
- Mandan
- Mattole
- Menominee
- Meskwaki
- Miami
- Michif
- Micmac
- Mikasuki
- Miwok, Bay
- Miwok, Central Sierra
- Miwok, Coast
- Miwok, Lake
- Miwok, Northern Sierra
- Miwok, Plains
- Miwok, Southern Sierra
- Mohave
- Mohawk
- Mohegan-Montauk-Narragansett
- Mokilese
- Molale
- Mono
- Muskogee
- Nanticoke
- Natchez
- Navajo
- Nawathinehena
- Nez Perce
- Nisenan
- Nooksack
- Nottoway
- Obispeño
- Ofo
- Ohlone, Northern
- Ohlone, Southern
- Okanagan
- Omaha-Ponca
- Oneida
- Onondaga
- Osage
- Ottawa
- Paiute, Northern
- Pawnee
- Piro
- Piscataway
- Plains Indian Sign Language
- Pomo, Central
- Pomo, Eastern
- Pomo, Northeastern
- Pomo, Northern
- Pomo, Southeastern
- Pomo, Southern
- Potawatomi
- Powhatan
- Purepecha
- Purisimeño
- Quapaw
- Quechan
- Quileute
- Quinault
- Salinan
- Salish, Southern Puget Sound
- Salish, Straits
- Sea Island Creole English
- Seneca
- Serrano
- Shasta
- Shawnee
- Shoshoni
- Siuslaw
- Skagit
- Snohomish
- Spanish
- Spokane
- Takelma
- Tanacross
- Tanaina
- Tanana, Lower
- Tanana, Upper
- Tenino
- Tewa
- Tillamook
- Timbisha
- Tiwa, Northern
- Tiwa, Southern
- Tlingit
- Tohono O'odham
- Tolowa
- Tonkawa
- Tsimshian
- Tübatulabal
- Tunica
- Tuscarora
- Tutelo
- Tututni
- Twana
- Umatilla
- Unami
- Ute-Southern Paiute
- Ventureño
- Wailaki
- Walla Walla
- Wampanoag
- Wappo
- Wasco-Wishram
- Washo
- Wichita
- Wintu
- Wiyot
- Wyandot
- Yakima
- Yaqui
- Yokuts
- Yuchi
- Yuki
- Yurok
- Zuni
What is the Ojibway word for water?
Ojibwe/Ojibwa/Chippewa has many different terms for water, bodies of water and running water.
Just a few of many hundreds of terms are:
- dakib (cold water)
- gizhiijiwan (to be running water)
- baawitig (waterfall)
- nibi (water)
- zhewitaganibi (salt water)
- ziibi (river)
- ziibins (creek)
- aaga'igaans (small lake or pond)
- zaaga'igan (lake)
- anaamibiig (under water)
- dimii (deep water)
- gimiwanaaboo (rain water)
- goonaaboo (water from melted snow)
- madaagami (swirling water)
Native American words for mother earth?
With over 250 languages in Australia, the indigenous people of Australia have different words for "meeting place". However, the name of Australia's capital, Canberra, is said to be derived from the aboriginal word for "meeting place". Some sources state that "Uluru" is also a word meaning "meeting place".
What is the native American word for waterfall?
O da lv is mountain is Cherokee. You can go to Cherokeenation.org and they have a translation engine.
What are some Native American words for brown?
There are many different Native American languages.
Here are just a few translations of 'brown':
Creek: lane
Koasati: nita
Lakota: mato
Navajo: dibéłchíʼí, yishtłʼizh
Tsalagi (Cherokee): wadigai, wudige
How do you write my name in Cherokee?
First you look up the Cherokee syllabry chart (this is not an alphabet, but consists mainly of units comprising a consonant plus a vowel) - the link below takes you to a chart.
Be prepared to arrive at an approximation of your name, since the syllabry was designed to write Cherokee words, not English ones, so it may not have exactly corresponding sounds.
For example, using the chart I could make the name "Rachel" by taking the signs for le (there is no "re") + tse + la and come up with letsela, which is as close as you can get. For the name "David" I could use de + wi + dv to make dewidv.
See link below for syllabry chart:
What is the native American word for beer?
As Native Americans, as a whole did not have "beer" in European sense until post-contact times, this question may be moot. However, the Incas brewed a beer-like alcoholic beverage known as "Chica" and some Pueblo cultures also brewed "Tiswin" from corn or prickly pears. Perhaps most famous would the Aztecs "Pulque" or "Octli in Nuatal. This beverage was made of fermented sap from the Agave or Maguey cactus.
Pre-contact, there were over 500 native American nations in north America speaking many different languages. So there is no such thing as a native American word for something just as you don't refer to a European word for beer...too many cultures, you'd have to ask ever linguistic group what their translation for the word is.
If you are referring to historical forms of beer the first paragraph is probably the extent of beer making in North and South America. Alcohol was rare , hence it's very destructive and tragic history amongst Native people in North America.
What is the Navajo word for star?
The word is: kʼos. The k' is a glottalized "k" sound. That means you sort of hold your breathe like you would when you say "uh oh" and then say the "k" sound. Most Navajo consonants have a glottalized and normal le: version. It makes it a completely different meaning in Dine' bizaad. There are T and T', Ch and Ch', K and K'. Tl and Tl', Ts and Ts'. The "o" is like the english o in "hose".
How do you say grandmother in Micmac Indian language?
The Mi'kmaq word for grandmother is nukumi (noo-goo-mee). Occasionally the term noogamijiij (little grandmother) is used.
What is the native Indian word for beautiful?
If you mean native American, there are may hundreds of words in many languages. Just a few words meaning "pretty", "handsome", "attractive" or "beautiful" are:
Hidatsa...........................ite-tsaki
Crow..............................itchi
Lakota............................waste, hopa, wasteka
Sanish (Arikara)...............tooxuun
Cheyenne........................pêhévenóno'e
Abenaki..........................waligek
Maliseet..........................wolikossu
Mohegan.......................wikco-
Naskapi..........................miyuskwaausuw
Ojibwe...........................eniwek, gwanaajiwan, onisisi, onizhishin
Haida.............................kyahtsgat 'láagang
Inuit..............................inerkonartok
Nahuatl (Aztec)...............yectli
Shoshone.......................duibichi'
Choctaw.........................aiukli
Cherokee........................uwoduhi
Zuni...............................e'lu
What is the translation of 'spirit' in one Native American language?
"Spirit" in a few native American languages:
Cherokee................adanvdo
Onondaga..............onigonra
Cayuga...................sadǫnhetra
Oneida....................atunhétsla
Algonkin..................manito
Menominee.............awae:tok
Lakota....................nagi or wanagi or woniya or washichu
Ojibwe....................achaag or achaak or aadisookaan or manidoo
What is the native American word for forest?
There are more than 700 different Native American languages spoken in North and South America. You will have to be more specific. If you are not sure which language you are talking about, here is a partial list of the most common Native American languages in North America:
- Abnaki, Eastern
- Achumawi
- Afro-Seminole Creole
- Ahtena
- Alabama
- Aleut
- Alsea
- Angloromani
- Apache, Jicarilla
- Apache, Kiowa
- Apache, Lipan
- Apache, Mescalero-Chiricahua
- Apache, Western
- Arapaho
- Arikara
- Assiniboine
- Atakapa
- Atsugewi
- Barbareño
- Biloxi
- Blackfoot
- Caddo
- Cahuilla
- Carolina Algonquian
- Carolinian
- Catawba
- Cayuga
- Chamorro
- Chehalis, Lower
- Chehalis, Upper
- Cherokee
- Chetco
- Cheyenne
- Chickasaw
- Chimariko
- Chinook
- Chinook Wawa
- Chippewa
- Chitimacha
- Choctaw
- Chumash
- Clallam
- Cocopa
- Coeur d'Alene
- Columbia-Wenatchi
- Comanche
- Coos
- Coquille
- Cowlitz
- Cree, Plains
- Crow
- Cruzeño
- Cupeño
- Dakota
- Degexit'an
- Delaware
- Delaware, Pidgin
- Esselen
- Evenki
- Eyak
- Galice
- Gros Ventre
- Gwich'in
- Halkomelem
- Han
- Havasupai-Walapai-Yavapai
- Hawai'i Creole English
- Hawai'i Pidgin Sign Language
- Hawaiian
- Hidatsa
- Ho-Chunk
- Holikachuk
- Hopi
- Hupa
- Ineseño
- Inupiaq
- Inupiatun, North Alaskan
- Inupiatun, Northwest Alaska
- Iowa-Oto
- Jemez
- Jingpho
- Kalapuya
- Kalispel-Pend D'oreille
- Kansa
- Karkin
- Karok
- Kashaya
- Kato
- Kawaiisu
- Keres, Eastern
- Keres, Western
- Kickapoo
- Kiowa
- Kitsai
- Klamath-Modoc
- Koasati
- Koyukon
- Kumiai
- Kuskokwim, Upper
- Kutenai
- Lakota
- Luiseño
- Lumbee
- Lushootseed
- Mahican
- Maidu, Northeast
- Maidu, Northwest
- Maidu, Valley
- Makah
- Malecite-Passamaquoddy
- Mandan
- Mattole
- Menominee
- Meskwaki
- Miami
- Michif
- Micmac
- Mikasuki
- Miwok, Bay
- Miwok, Central Sierra
- Miwok, Coast
- Miwok, Lake
- Miwok, Northern Sierra
- Miwok, Plains
- Miwok, Southern Sierra
- Mohave
- Mohawk
- Mohegan-Montauk-Narragansett
- Mokilese
- Molale
- Mono
- Muskogee
- Nanticoke
- Natchez
- Navajo
- Nawathinehena
- Nez Perce
- Nisenan
- Nooksack
- Nottoway
- Obispeño
- Ofo
- Ohlone, Northern
- Ohlone, Southern
- Okanagan
- Omaha-Ponca
- Oneida
- Onondaga
- Osage
- Ottawa
- Paiute, Northern
- Pawnee
- Piro
- Piscataway
- Plains Indian Sign Language
- Pomo, Central
- Pomo, Eastern
- Pomo, Northeastern
- Pomo, Northern
- Pomo, Southeastern
- Pomo, Southern
- Potawatomi
- Powhatan
- Purepecha
- Purisimeño
- Quapaw
- Quechan
- Quileute
- Quinault
- Salinan
- Salish, Southern Puget Sound
- Salish, Straits
- Sea Island Creole English
- Seneca
- Serrano
- Shasta
- Shawnee
- Shoshoni
- Siuslaw
- Skagit
- Snohomish
- Spanish
- Spokane
- Takelma
- Tanacross
- Tanaina
- Tanana, Lower
- Tanana, Upper
- Tenino
- Tewa
- Tillamook
- Timbisha
- Tiwa, Northern
- Tiwa, Southern
- Tlingit
- Tohono O'odham
- Tolowa
- Tonkawa
- Tsimshian
- Tübatulabal
- Tunica
- Tuscarora
- Tutelo
- Tututni
- Twana
- Umatilla
- Unami
- Ute-Southern Paiute
- Ventureño
- Wailaki
- Walla Walla
- Wampanoag
- Wappo
- Wasco-Wishram
- Washo
- Wichita
- Wintu
- Wiyot
- Wyandot
- Yakima
- Yaqui
- Yokuts
- Yuchi
- Yuki
- Yurok
- Zuni
What does the Indian word hopi mean?
I know this will be hard on you, but the Native American word for Hopi is "HOPI" pronounced "Hope-e" Their name for themselves is "Hopituh Shi-nu-mu" meaning "The Peaceful People."
