 | Hiawatha; a poem, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Illustrated by John Rea Neill. |  |
Notes
Wallace Rice
Page 15. Ojibways — oh-jib'-wayz — or Chippewas, a tribe of the gre! Algonquin — al-gon'kin — family, settled at the time of the story along the lower shores of Lake Superior.
Dacotah is the older spelling of Dakota, the name given to the Sioux and several tribes of the Northwest. In this and the foregoing line Longfellow explicitly acknowledges the double source whence his material is derived.
Shuh-shuh-gah — shoo-shoo'gah. The accent in this, as in all the subsequent proper names of the poem, is indicated by the meter. If, beginning the count with the line, the syllable numbers odd, it is stressed; otherwise not.
Nawadaha-nah-wah-dah'ha. It means "the singer."
Page 16. Chetowaik-chet-oh-wake'. As in so many cases throughout, its English meaning follows.
Mahn is pronounced as spelled. Wawa — waw'-waw.
Mushkodasa-mush-kola-day'sa.
Tawasentha — tah-wah-sen'tha. The Indian name of a valley near the capital of New York State, now known as Norman's Kill.
Hiawatha —hee-ah-wah'tha. It signifies "the wise man," or teacher.
Page 19. The quarry of red pipestone lies in the Côteau des Prairies, the dividing line between the valleys of the Missouri and St. Peter's Rivers. It was sacred ground to the Indians of the North, who came here through centuries of time to obtain the material for the peace-pipes, so necessary for their solemn ceremonials.
Gitche Manito — git'chee man'-i-toh — is the Great Spirit, corresponding somewhat to our understanding of God.
Ishkoodah — ish-koo-dah' — signifies "fire," and so a fire in the heavens, a comet, personified as a spirit in human form.
Page 20. Calumet-cal'yuh-met-is the Norman form of the French chalumet, derived from the Latin calamellus, diminutive of calamus, a reed. It was applied by the French missionaries to the long reed stem of the peace-pipe, the bowl of which is made of redstone.
Wyoming valley, the scene of a dreadful massacre of innocent Americans by Indians and British sympathizers during the Revolutionary War, celebrated by Campbell in his "Gertrude of Wyoming."
Tuscaloosa is in Alabama.
Pukwana — puk-way'na — means "smoke."
Page 21. Shoshonies — slio-shoh'neez — and Omahas — oh'ma-hawz — ! accent has been transferred by Longfellow. All the proper names in this passage are familiar names of Indian tribes in the Northwest. This is the beginning of the legend which accounts for the establishment of the pipestone quarries as neutral ground among the aborigines.
Page 24. Mudjekeewis-rnud-jee-kee'wiss.
Wampum — wom'pum — shell beads used by the Indians as money, and for purposes of decoration, as here. The word is of Massachusetts origin and means "white," though the more valuable wampum was made of purple shells.
Wabasso — waw-bas'so — means the cold region where the fur of the rabbit is white, hence the North.
Mislie-Mokwa — mish'ee moh'qua — is the fabulous bear, the father of all bears, used in aboriginal lore to frighten children, so terrible was it. The story here preserves the tradition which led the Indian to pay a semi-serious but profound respect to the bear whenever he encountered it.
Page 26. Shaugodaya — shaw-goh-day'ya — means "coward."
Kabeyun — kay'bee-yun — or the west wind, is the bringer of warmth and fertility, hence the chief of the winds.
Wabun — waw'bun.
Shawondasee — shaw-won-day'see.
Kabibonokka — kah-bib-oh-noh'ka.
Page 28. Wabun-Annung — waw'bun an'nung — is the star of the east, Lucifer, the morning star.
Shingebis — shin'ghee-bis — a name applied to diving birds of various species.
Page 35. Wenonah — weh-noh'na — is the one Christian name given us by the Indians. It signifies first-born among daughters, whether to the mother, or in a given place. It is now spelled Winona.
Page 36. Wahonowin — wah-ho-noh'win — is an exclamation of grief, l! "alas."
Gitche Gumec — git'chee gu'mee — means "great sea," or Lake Superior.
Page 38. The Naked Bear-Heckewelder records the tradition of a bear without fur except for a spot on its back, which is the one slain by Mudjekeewis in the preceding canto of the poem.
Ewa-yea — ee'waw-yay — is the beginning of an Indian lullaby.
The "Death-Dance of the spirits" is the aurora borealis, or northern lights, thought by the Indians to be the ghosts of departed braves dancing in shining raiment.
The "pathway of the ghosts" is the Milky Way.
Minne-wawa and Mudway-aushka — these two Indian words are intended — by onomatopœia — to represent the sounds made by the wind soughing through the trees and rippling on the shore.
Page 40. This is reminiscent of episodes in the life of St. Francis of Assisi. All the details properly appertain to Manebozho.
Iagoo — ee-ah'goo — was the teller of travellers' tales in his day.
Page 45. Esconaba, now Escanaba — es-ca-naw'ba — is a river and district in the upper peninsula of Michigan, now celebrated for its iron mines.
Page 49. Baim-wawa — bame-waw'waw — represents to the Indian the sound of thunder, the equivalent of our words rumble, grumble, and the like.
Kenabeek — ke-nah'beek.
Page 50. Minnehaha, the name of the heroine, is also the name of these beautiful falls, half a mile from the point where the Minnehaha River debouches into the Mississippi, not far from Minneapolis.
Page 53. Omeme — oh-mee'mee.
Mahnomonee — mah-noh-moh'nee — is misaccented, being the name of the town in Michigan known as Menominee — me-nom'in-ee.
Shahbomin — shah-boh'min.
Bemahgut — be-mah'goot.
Okahahwis is the fresh-water herring, a delicious fish still abundant in the Great Lakes. The whitefish, best of all, is not mentioned, curiously enough.
Page 54. Mondamin — mon-dah'min — is the maize, or Indian corn, the chief staple of the Indian's food supply.
Page 57. Wawonaissa — waw-won-ay'sa — is the whippoorwill. Both the Indian and the English words are supposed to represent the plaintive call of this night-bird.
Page 62. Chibiabos — kib-i-ah'bohss — is the prince of the land of spirits, the Algonquin Pluto.
Kwasind — kwah'sind — is an aboriginal Hercules.
Page 64. Ponemah — poh-nee'ma.
Manito — man'i-toh — is here the Indian equivalent of the Christian's guardian angel.
Page 67. Pauwating — paw-way'ting — is the native name for the Sault Ste. Marie, connecting Lake Superior with Lake Michigan.
Page 69. Taquamenaw — tah-qua-mee'naw — is the name of a river in t! upper peninsula of Michigan.
Page 71. Kagh — kahgh — is not the European hedgehog, but the porcupine. Its name is derived from the grunting sound it makes when disturbed.
Page 73. Mishe — mish'ee — or mitche means large, great.
Shawgashee — shaw-ga-shee' — is the fresh-water lobster, more properly the crawfish, its name being from the Latin crevis, French ècrevisse.
| Hiawatha; a poem, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Illustrated by John Rea Neill. | |