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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
What does Mesabi mean in Native American language?
The name comes from the Ojibwe word misaabe, which can mean the constellation of Orion, or a large man, or a giant. There is clearly a reference to an Ojibwe religious story involved.
What is the native American word for white wolf in nooksack?
Nooksack is no longer a spoken languagebut it is similar to Lushootseed.
In Northern Lushootseed white wolf is: x̌ʷiqʷəq̓ʷ stiqayuʔ
If you go to the Tulalip language learning page you can hear clips of these words to try learn to pronounce this difficult language.
How did wigwams get there name?
The sound is similar to what the Native American peoples called their houses.
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While the first answer is vaguely correct, the word wigwam comes specifically from the Natick language of the Massachusetts, Narragansett and Wampanoag tribes. In Natick the word wekuwomut means "in his house", while the specific noun meaning a native house is wetu.
So wigwam does not derive from a word meaning a house, but from the locative "in his house".
This is similar to the false idea that the Lakota word tipi means a tent - it is really verb form meaning "they dwell".
What is the native American word for shadow?
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
- Barbare
Name the Native American that spoke English?
Me, yes I admit it - I speak English. Well, Ok, I try to speak it.
Since Native American's were exposed to the language many have spoken it.
72 percent for A+
What was the native American word for cave?
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
How do you say Flaming Arrow in Native American Indian language?
There are more than 450 Native American languages. You would have to be more specific.
What did native americans say to the Great Spirit?
Like prayers around the world, their words or thoughts were and are private and in most cases unrecorded.
Only in the few cases where a native American has dictated his life story to a white writer is there any record of such personal moments. One example is the Crow warrior and minor war chief Two Leggings, who told his life history to William Wildschut of the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation.
In one passage Two Leggings was undergoing the Crow Sun Dance and he prayed to "The Great Above Person and the Without Fires" (the Great Spirit and the animal, natural and celestial spirits) to pity him, give him bravery and success in battle, as well as long life and health. Such wishes are common to people everywhere.
Later Two Leggings prayed to The Great Above Person for help in the things he would try to do, that he would meet the enemy and have good luck.
In another passage he held a sacred pipe in his hand and prayed that all his future trails would be successful.
What is the Miwok word for Bigfoot?
The Miwok use the term Che-ha-lum'che, meaning "Rock Giant". This does not necessarily mean the same creature as Sasquatch or Bigfoot, since many tribes have names for mythical spirits and creatures that have no connection at all with the Bigfoot legend.
What native American language is the word takota?
This seems to be a garbled version of the word Dakota, one of the dialect divisions of the Sioux language, the others being Nakota and Lakota. All three words have the meaning "feeling affection, friendly, united, allied".
The version Takota has been credited with many fanciful meanings, such as "friend to everyone", "friends forever" and similar concoctions. All this is pure invention and has nothing to do with native American languages - the word is Dakota, with the meanings given above.
Why are some English words native American?
Whenever one culture collides with another (for example Japan and Europe, China and Europe, the Americas and Europe, Australia and Europe) each side finds elements in the other culture that it has never seen before and has no word for in its own language. The Japanese had never seen bread before contact with Europeans, so they adopted a French word (pain) for bread and pronounced it pan.
In exactly the same way English explorers had never seen the kind of footwear made by native Americans, or many of the animals in the New World, or the kinds of houses they found or the food eaten by the natives. All these things and more were completely new, so they tried to adopt the native words: moccasin, wigwam, opossum, succotash. These are all only attempts to say the native word - the word for succotash was really m'sickquatash, moccasin was really mukessinah, wigwam was really weekwahm and opossum was really apasum or wapasum; none of the attempts at absorbing native words was 100% correct.
So no English words are genuinely native American, they are only rough approximations.
What does illini or illiniwek mean in native American language?
The specific language is called Miami-Illinois, spoken by many small tribes living in the area of the upper Mississippi river valley (Peoria, Piankashaw, Miami, Wea, Michigamea, Cahokia, Kaskaskia and many others).
In that language the word for "man" or "person" is alenia. Despite the similarity of this with Illini or Illinois, it is accepted that both illini and illiniwek are white European (French) versions or approximations that come from the term irenweewa or ilenweewa, meaning "he speaks the Illinois language" (effectively "he is one of us"). The plural of this would be irenweewaki ("they speak our language")
But the self-designation for these people was normally inoka.
So the answer is that illini and illiniwek mean absolutely nothing in any language, but they are corrupted forms of the words mentioned above. This is typical of most of the names mis-applied to native tribes by explorers unfamiliar with their languages.
What is the native American word for travel?
There are more than 700 different Native American languages spoken in North and South America.
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
- Yupik, Central
- Yupik, Central Siberian
- Yupik, Pacific Gulf
- Yurok
- Zuni
Is aya a native American word?
It is definitely a Greek word, but it might also be a word in one of the hundreds of different Native American languages as well.
How do you spell old man in Creek?
The Creek term for an old man is honvnwv leskē. The letter v is used to represent a vague "uh" sound.
What is Cu bi Hatcha in the Creek Indian language?
The name of the Creek town of Cubihatcha may have been incorrectly recorded by white people. The last element is likely to be -hatchi, not -hatcha; compare other Upper Creek town names, such as Alkehatchi, Coosahatchi, Saugahatchi and Talasihatchi. This element may be simply a word for "place" or "settlement".
The cubi- element is perhaps intended for cvmpe-meaning sweet, so cvmpehatchi would be "sweet place"; the first part of Coosahatchi may be cvse- (pumpkin), so cvsehatchi = pumpkin place. Alkehasi may be intended for akhvsehatchi = pond place.
How do you say Jacob in native American?
There are more than 700 different Native American languages spoken in North and South America.
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
- Yupik, Central
- Yupik, Central Siberian
- Yupik, Pacific Gulf
- Yurok
- Zuni
What Indian tribe lived in Punxsutawney Pennsylvania?
Before the town was founded the area was part of the lands occupied by the Delawares (Lenni Lenape). Today less than 0.2% of the population has native American ethnicity.
How do you translate wolf into Athabaskan?
Well some Microsoft programs have translation searchs built into them, what you do is type in the word on like Microsoft Word, highlight it, right click on the word and there will be a translate tollbar piece near the bottom.
How do you say hello in the plains language?
There was no one language used by all native Americans who lived on the plains.
How do you say make it rain gods of rain in native American language?
There is no one "Native American " language, but many from the different tribes. So your question can't be answered.
