English
Sioux
Sioux comes from French Sioux, and goes back to Ojibwe naadawesiwag ‘little snakes’.
- Ojibwemodernnaadawesiwag‘little snakes’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentSioux
- Englishearliest quotation 1950same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Ojibwemodernnaadawesiwag‘little snakes’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentSioux
- Englishearliest quotation 1950same form
Earliest quotation: 1950, Dorothy M. Johnson, Flame on the Frontier; in Indian Country: “Her husband spoke to the Indian in halting Sioux,…”
Every English word from Ojibwe naadawesiwag
Today it means
name Various formerly nomadic Native American tribes of the North American Great Plains.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Ojibwe naadawesiwag / Sioux