GLOSSARY OF CHEROKEE WORDS
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Mooney, James
Ani′ta′gwă—the Catawba Indians; singular, Ata′gwă, or Tagwă.
Ani′-Tsâ′gûhĭ—a traditional Cherokee clan, transformed to bears (see number 75). Swimmer’s daughter bears the name Tsâgûhĭ, which is not recognized as distinctively belonging to either sex.
Ani′-Tsa′lăgi′—the Cherokee. See “Tribal Synonymy,” page 182.
Ani′-Tsaʻta—the Choctaw Indians; singular, Tsaʻta.
Ani′-Tsĭ′ksû—the Chickasaw Indians; singular, Tsĭ′ksû.
Ani′-Tsi′skwa—“Bird people;” one of the seven Cherokee clans.
Ani′tsu′tsă—“The Boys,” from atsu′tsă, boy; the Pleiades. See number 10.
Ani′-Wâ′dĭ—“Paint people”; one of the seven Cherokee clans.
Ani′-Wâdihĭ′—“Place of the Paint people or clan”; Paint town, a Cherokee settlement on lower Soco creek, within the reservation in Jackson and Swain counties, North Carolina. It takes its name from the Ani′-Wâ′dĭ or Paint clan.
ani′wani′skĭ—the bugle weed, Lycopus virginicus; literally, “they talk” or “talkers,” from tsiwa′nihû, “I am talking,” awani′skĭ, “he talks habitually.” See number 26.
Ani′-Wasa′sĭ—the Osage Indians; singular, Wasa′sĭ.
Ani′-Wa′ʻya—“Wolf people”; the most important of the seven Cherokee clans.
Ani′-Yu′tsĭ—the Yuchi or Uchee Indians; singular Yu′tsĭ.
Ani′-Yûñ′wiyă′—Indians, particularly Cherokee Indians; literally “principal or real people,” from yûñwĭ, person, yă, a suffix implying principal or real, and ani′, the tribal prefix. See pages 5 and 182.
Annie Ax—see Sadayĭ′.
Aquone—a post-office on Nantahala river, in Macon county, North Carolina, site of the former Fort Scott. Probably a corruption of egwânĭ, river.
Arch, John—see Atsĭ.
asâ′gwălihû′—a pack or burden; asâ′gwălʻlû′ or asâ′gwĭʻlĭ, “there is a pack on him.” Cf sâ′gwălĭ′.
asĕhĭ′—surely.
Asĕ′nikă—singular of Ani′-Sĕ′nikă. See Ani′-Nûndăwe′gĭ.
asga′ya—man.
Asga′ya Gi′găgeĭ—the “Red Man”; the Lightning spirit.
asgi′na—a ghost, either human or animal; from the fact that ghosts are commonly supposed to be malevolent, the name is frequently rendered “devil.”
Asheville—see Kâsdu′yĭ and Unta′kiyasti′yĭ.
âsĭ—the sweat lodge and occasional winter sleeping apartment of the Cherokee and other southern tribes. It was a low-built structure of logs covered with earth, and from its closeness and the fire usually kept smoldering within was known to the old traders as the “hot house.”
â′siyu′ (abbreviated siyu′)—good; the common Cherokee salute; gâ′siyu′, “I am good”; hâ′siyu′, “thou art good”; â′siyu, “he (it) is good”; âstû, “very good” (intensive).
Askwa′nĭ—a Spaniard. See Ani′skwa′nĭ.
âstû′—very good; âstû tsĭkĭ′, very good, best of all. Cf â′siyu′.
Astu′gatâ′ga—A Cherokee lieutenant in the Confederate service, killed in 1862. See page 170. The name may be rendered, “Standing in the doorway” but implies that the man himself is the door or shutter; it has no first person; gatâ′ga, “he is standing”; stuʻtĭ, a door or shutter; stuhû′, a closed door or passage; stugi′stĭ, a key, i. e. something with which to open a door.
asûñ′tlĭ, asûñtlûñ′yĭ—a footlog or bridge; literally, “log lying across,” from asi′ta, log.
ătă′—wood; ata′yă, “principal wood,” i. e. oak; cf. Muscogee iti, wood.
Atagâ′hĭ—“Gall place,” from ă′tăgû′, gall, and hĭ, locative; a mythic lake in the Great Smoky mountains. See number 69. The name is also applied to that part of the Great Smoky range centering about Thunderhead mountain and Miry ridge, near the boundary between Swain county, North Carolina, and Blount county, Tennessee.
ă′tăgû′—gall.
Ătă′-gûlʻkălû′—a noted Cherokee chief, recognized by the British government as the head chief or “emperor” of the Nation, about 1760 and later, and commonly known to the whites as the Little Carpenter (Little Cornplanter, by mistake, in Haywood). The name is frequently spelled Atta-kulla-kulla, Ata-kullakulla or Ata-culculla. It may be rendered “Leaning-wood,” from ătă′, “wood” and gûlʻkălû, a verb implying that something long is leaning, without sufficient support, against some other object; it has no first person form. Bartram describes him as “a man of remarkably small stature, slender and of a delicate frame, the only instance I saw in the Nation; but he is a man of superior abilities.”
Ata′gwa—a Catawba Indian. See Ani′la′gwă.
Aʻtâhi′ta—abbreviated from Aʻtâhitûñ′yĭ, “Place where they shouted,” from gatâ′hiû′, “I shout,” and yĭ, locative. Waya gap, on the ridge west of Franklin, Macon county, North. Carolina. See number 13. The map name is probably from the Cherokee waʻya, wolf.
Ata-kullakulla—see Ătă′-gûlʻkălû′.
â′tălĭ—mountain; in the Lower dialect â′tărĭ, whence the “Ottare” or Upper Cherokee of Adair. The form â′tălĭ is used only in composition; a mountain in situ is âtălûñyĭ or gatu′sĭ.
â′tălĭ-gûlĭ′—“it climbs the mountain,” i. e., “mountain-climber”; the ginseng plant, Ginseng quinquefolium; from â′tălĭ, mountain, and gûlĭ′, “it climbs” (habitually); tsĭlăhĭ′ or tsĭlĭ′, “I am climbing.” Also called in the sacred formulas, Yûñ′wĭ Usdi′, “Little Man.” See number 126.
a′tălulû—unfinished, premature, unsuccessful; whence utalu′lĭ, “it is not yet time.”