Ojibwe

Meaning

Name

The language spoken by the native Algonquin people of central Canada, one of a closely related group of languages and dialects of the Algonquian branch of the Algic language family.

Adj

Of or pertaining to this people, culture or language.

Synonyms

Ojibwa

Ojibway

Chippewa

Latin

Hindi

Czech

🇨🇿

Romanian

🇷🇴

Sanskrit

vocative

Translations

ojibwé

ojibwa

Ojibwa

Ojibwé

Ojibwe

vocativo

Anishinabe

chippewa

vocatif

Vokativ

οτζίμπουε

ojibwe

κλητική

ojibway

Anredefall

Pronounced as (IPA)

/əˈdʒɪbweɪ/

Etymology

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 Ojibwe ojibwaakide (“it shrivels, it puckers in the fire”), 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' (“write (someone's name) down”).
Other, less credible theories:
Other, less likely suggestions include: Henry Schoolcraft derived it from a word *bwe "pertaining to voice" ((compare bedowe (“have a soft voice”)), 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 (“she or he puckers the lips”), 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.