Title: Native Americans - What did they call themselves? [Archive] - Straight Dope Message Board
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Content: CalMeacham
05-06-2003, 08:20 AM
I suspect that most folks ' names for themselves mean "us" or "real people" or "original People" or "human beings" (as Berger used it in Little Big Man. As opposed to "them", "the heathen", "foreigners". See Cecil's column on why the Germans call themselves what they call themselves. Kalhoun
05-06-2003, 08:26 AM
I think they went strictly by their tribal names. Chippewa, Cherokee, etc. Just a guess. pravnik
05-06-2003, 08:27 AM
It varries greatly, since "Native Americans" refers to a large and disparate group of peoples, with different languages, cultures, and worldviews. The name for themselves was very often something corresponding to "the people", like with the Dineh. Their name for others was often something corresponding with "enemy." Often the name that we think of when thinking of an Indian tribe is another tribes' name for them (often "enemy"), which was the first we learned. "