awanoch
Abenaki edit
Etymology edit
Cognate to Penobscot awenoch (“white person”); of uncertain derivation.[1] Connected by some to awani (“who; someone”) (and its cognates in other Algonquian languages).[2][3]
Other cognates include Mi'kmaq wenooch (“Frenchman”),[4] Narragansett awaunagus (“Englishman”), Schaghticoke wanux, Mohegan-Pequot wánuks (“white person”), Malecite-Passamaquoddy wenuhc (“white person”).[3]
Noun edit
awanoch (animate, plural awanochak)
References edit
- ^ American Anthropologist (volume 12, 1910)
- ^ Siobhan Senier, Dawnland Voices: An Anthology of Indigenous Writing from New England (2014, →ISBN: [...] awanoch, meaning white man, consists of awani and uji, or who and from. We are told that when first the Indians beheld the white man, they exclaimed to one another: “A wani uji?” “A wani uji?,” meaning, “WHO is this man and where does he come FROM?" But they considered it a waste of breath to say the whole sentence. To the Indians it was sufficient to say just: "Who from?" Ever since then the white man has been called awanoch (pronounced awanoots) […]
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Frederick Webb Hodge, Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico: N-Z
- ^ Rand's Dictionary of the Language of the Micmac Indians (1888)