Ojibwe

Meanings

Proper Noun

Noun

  • A member of a native Algonquin people of central Canada.

Related

Similar words

Origin

  • First attested in English around 1700 (and attested in early French as Outchibouec), from the Ojibwe name of an individual band of Ojibwe, of unclear origin. The most widely accepted theory connects it to ojibwaakide, in reference to the puckering or tightening of moccasins at their seams or near fire. Alternatively, Helen Tanner and Edmund Danzinger connect it to the Ojibwe practice of writing on birch bark or making pictographs, respectively; compare ozhibii'.
  • Other, less likely suggestions include: Henry Schoolcraft derived it from a word *bwe "pertaining to voice" ((compare bedowe), and like George Belcourt, believed it referred to a peculiarity of the tribe's (language's) pronunciation. Some other works connect it to the word for puckering the lips, which however is bajiishkidooneni, or assert that it refers to roasting captives until their flesh puckered, but this was not a common practice and is improbable as a self-designation.

Modern English dictionary

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