shawnee
UK /ʃɔˈni/ · US /ʃɑˈni/ noun, adjective, proper noun
Forms Shawnees
- noun Virginia waterleaf (Hydrophyllum virginianum)
- noun A member of a Native American people (tribe) from Ohio.
- adjective Of, belonging to, or pertaining to this tribe.
- proper noun The language of this tribe.
- proper noun A female given name, derived from the name of this tribe.
- proper noun A city, the county seat of Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma, United States.
Etymology
Ultimately from Shawnee saawanwa (“Shawnee”) or saawanoki (“southerners”), a hypothetical intermediary term is sometimes supposed to have facilitated the entry into English, such as Munsee sawanow. Likely a re-analysis of Shawnese as the plural Shawnees.
Sources: Wiktionary — from the Wiktionary entry “shawnee”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details