Speaking of Paris, the Iroquois are not the only tribe with a french name. (Of course, in Onondagan they are the Haudenosaunee, in Mohawk Rotinnosonni.) I'm thinking of Nez Perce. Can anyone think of any others? "Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin
Wiki
The word Iroquois has many potential origins. First, the Haudenosaunee (People of the Longhouse) often ended their oratory with the phrase hiro kone;[2] hiro translates as "I have spoken", and kone can be translated several ways, the most common being "in joy", "in sorrow", or "in truth". Hiro kone to the French encountering the Haudenosaunee would sound like "Iroquois", pronounced iʁokwe in the French language of the time. Another version is however supported by French linguists such as Henriette Walter and historians such as Dean Snow[3]. According to this account, "Iroquois" would derive from a Basque expression, Hilokoa, meaning the "killer people". This expression would have been applied to the Iroquois because they were the enemy of the local Algonquians, with whom the Basque fishermen were trading. However, because there is no "l" in the Algonquian languages of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence region, the name became "Hirokoa", which is the name the French understood when Algonquians referred to the same pidgin language as the one they used with the Basque. The French then transliterated the word according to their own phonetic rules, thus providing "Iroquois". Yet another alternate possible origin of the name Iroquois is reputed to come from a French version of a Huron (Wyandot) name--considered an insult--meaning "Black Snakes". The Iroquois were enemies of the Huron and the Algonquin, who allied with the French, because of their rivalry in the fur trade.
First, the Haudenosaunee (People of the Longhouse) often ended their oratory with the phrase hiro kone;[2] hiro translates as "I have spoken", and kone can be translated several ways, the most common being "in joy", "in sorrow", or "in truth". Hiro kone to the French encountering the Haudenosaunee would sound like "Iroquois", pronounced iʁokwe in the French language of the time.
Another version is however supported by French linguists such as Henriette Walter and historians such as Dean Snow[3]. According to this account, "Iroquois" would derive from a Basque expression, Hilokoa, meaning the "killer people". This expression would have been applied to the Iroquois because they were the enemy of the local Algonquians, with whom the Basque fishermen were trading. However, because there is no "l" in the Algonquian languages of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence region, the name became "Hirokoa", which is the name the French understood when Algonquians referred to the same pidgin language as the one they used with the Basque. The French then transliterated the word according to their own phonetic rules, thus providing "Iroquois".
Yet another alternate possible origin of the name Iroquois is reputed to come from a French version of a Huron (Wyandot) name--considered an insult--meaning "Black Snakes". The Iroquois were enemies of the Huron and the Algonquin, who allied with the French, because of their rivalry in the fur trade.
Here, the French showed up and heard "Illiniwek" as "Illinois". "Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.
or does that just sound french? ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
Various proposals have been given for the origin of the word "Cheyenne". Some have suggested that it comes from French fur traders, who named Cheyennes with the French word "chien," meaning "dog." Further suggested in this folk etymology is that that name would make sense because at the time of French-Cheyenne contact, the Cheyennes did not yet have horses, but were using dogs for pulling their travois, loaded with their tepees and other supplies. More often it is suggested that "Cheyenne" derives from a Sioux word. The Sioux words most often cited have meanings related to 'red' or 'alien'. Sometimes the meaning has been given in the literature as "those who speak an alien tongue." These Siouan explanations are reasonable, but they do not stand up to the most rigorous linguistic and historical analysis. Ives Goddard, Algonquianist and a curator at the Smithsonian Institution, says (personal email communication, 28 May 1997]: There is no question about the etymology of Cheyenne. It comes into English from French; the J.B. Franquelin map of 1678-1679 has Chaiena, a direct rendering of Dakota (dialect) šahíyena (Riggs 1890, p. 440)], corresponding to Lakota (dialect) šahíyela. This is the regular diminutive of šahíya, the name of the Cree. So the Cheyenne are [called] the "little Cree" [by the Sioux].
More often it is suggested that "Cheyenne" derives from a Sioux word. The Sioux words most often cited have meanings related to 'red' or 'alien'. Sometimes the meaning has been given in the literature as "those who speak an alien tongue."
These Siouan explanations are reasonable, but they do not stand up to the most rigorous linguistic and historical analysis. Ives Goddard, Algonquianist and a curator at the Smithsonian Institution, says (personal email communication, 28 May 1997]:
There is no question about the etymology of Cheyenne. It comes into English from French; the J.B. Franquelin map of 1678-1679 has Chaiena, a direct rendering of Dakota (dialect) šahíyena (Riggs 1890, p. 440)], corresponding to Lakota (dialect) šahíyela. This is the regular diminutive of šahíya, the name of the Cree. So the Cheyenne are [called] the "little Cree" [by the Sioux].
Sioux
The name "Sioux" is an abbreviated form of Nadouessioux borrowed into French Canadian from Nadoüessioüak from the early Odawa exonym: naadowesiwag "Sioux".[6] It was first used by Jean Nicolet in 1640.[3]
