1 / 18

Greater than the Sum of Its Parts: Building Plant Names in Ojibwe

Greater than the Sum of Its Parts: Building Plant Names in Ojibwe. Stephanie Gamble Morse Eastern Michigan University/UC Santa Barbara. Overview. Project background Structure of names Types of descriptors Adjectives/Verbs/Nouns Animal names/colors Unanalyzables Names for plant parts

nevaeh
Download Presentation

Greater than the Sum of Its Parts: Building Plant Names in Ojibwe

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Greater than the Sum of Its Parts:Building Plant Names in Ojibwe Stephanie Gamble Morse Eastern Michigan University/UC Santa Barbara

  2. Overview • Project background • Structure of names • Types of descriptors • Adjectives/Verbs/Nouns • Animal names/colors • Unanalyzables • Names for plant parts • Names that don’t fit the pattern • Discussion of dialectal variation • Conclusions

  3. Project Background • Nearly 6,000 entries • 17 sources • Historical: Baraga, Pokagon, Blackbird • Contemporary: Rhodes, Johnson, GLIFWC • Looking for patterns in plant names across the language • All previous studies have been regional

  4. Sources

  5. By the Numbers • 10,000+ plants listed in the Ojibwe-speaking region (USDA PLANTS database) • 850-900 different Ojibwe plant names represented in the corpus • Number is approximate because there are a number of names that are probably spelling variants, but I was hesitant to collapse

  6. Names • Most names are comprised of two (or more) morphemes • Typical pattern is: descriptor+part of plant miskomin misko-min red-berry ‘raspberry’

  7. Descriptors • Gezibi-nashk-> rustle-grass -> horsetail • Ishkode-jiibik -> fire-root -> shepherd’s purse • Bimide-min -> oil-berry -> olive All images are from Wikimedia Commons

  8. Descriptors: Animal Names/Colors • Aandeg-opin -> ‘crow-root’ -> black nightshade • Bine-bug -> ‘partridge-leaf’ -> marsh cinquefoil • Msko-jiis-> ‘red-taproot’ -> beet • misko-jiisens -> radish All images are from Wikimedia Commons

  9. Unanalyzables • oginii-waabigwan -> ‘rose-flower’ -> rose • wiigwaas-aatig -> ‘birch-tree’ -> birch tree • wiigobi-mizh -> ‘basswood-woody.stem’-> basswood All images are from Wikimedia Commons

  10. Names for Plant Parts: Underground • Ojiibik‘root’ • Minopugo-jiibik“good taste-root” Indian cucumber • Opin‘tuber’ • Waagipin“bent? tuber“ -> yellow water lily root • Opin -> potato • -kaadaak/-kadak‘taproot’ • Okaadaak -> carrot (also sometimes jiisens)

  11. Plant Parts: Easily Detached • Anibiish‘leaf’ • Anibiishwaabo -> leaf-liquid -> tea • -bag is a very common second component also with the meaning of ‘leaf’ but also ‘flower petal’ • Miin, -min or –mn ‘berry, or plant with fruit’ • Miin by itself is usually ‘blueberry’ • Mishimin -> large berry -> ‘apple’ • Bagaan: ‘nut’ • Bagesan: ‘fruit’

  12. Plant Parts: Not So Easily Detached • (wa/o)nagek‘bark’ • Okonaas‘peel/skin of plant’ • Bigiw‘sap’ • Odikwan‘branch’ • -aandag‘branch/bough’ • -tig/-aatig‘stick, trunk, woody portion of plant’ (Mitig when occuring by itself)

  13. Names that don’t fit the pattern • Adjidamo-wano-> ‘squirrel-tail’-> goldenrod • Nebne-godek -> ‘hanging one-sided’-> solomon’s seal • niimidi moccasin -> ‘northern lights-moccasin’ -> yellow ladyslipper All images are from Wikimedia Commons

  14. Variation • Internal • Plant names tend to be use-based, so it’s not uncommon to see a descriptor with a variety of different plant parts American HazelnutWhite Birch Bagaanwiigwaas Bagaanesiminaagaawanzhwiigwaasaatig Bagaanimizhwiigwaasimizh

  15. Variation between Sources CattailOak Gilmore: pokwiiškmitigó-minš Johnston: pukawaeyaukmishi-meesh Densmore: apûk'wemǐtǐgo'mizǐnc Rhodes: pakweyashkmiizhmizh* *Q. alba

  16. Conclusions • Most names tend to follow the pattern: • Descriptive Modifier – Plant Part • Lists are useful for exploring the semantics of both the descriptors and plant parts • Name as a descriptor tends to indicate a type of mint, though it literally means ‘sturgeon’ • (though it is also used for wild ginger and a type of potato) • It also makes it possible to more thoroughly investigate the organizational system of plants in the language

  17. Sources • A Concise Dictionary of the Ojibway Indian Language. Vols. 1 English-Ojibway. Rochester, NY: International Colportage Mission, 1903. • Baraga, Frederic. A Dictionary of the Ojibway Language. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1992. • Blackbird, Andrew. History of the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians of Michigan: A Grammar of their Language, and Personal and Family History of the Author. Ypsilanti: Ypsilantian Job Printing House, 1887. • Davidson-Hunt, Iain J., Jack Phyllis, Edward Mandamin, and Brennan Wapioke. "Iskatewizaagegan (Shoal Lake) Plant Knoweldge: An Anishnaabe (Ojibway) Ethnobotany of Northwestern Ontario." Journal of Ethnobiology 25, no. 2 (2005): 189–227. • Densmore, Frances. Strength of the Earth: The classic guide to Ojibwe uses of native plants. Reprint of section from 44th Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, Washington DC GPO. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2005. • Dobson, Pamela J., ed. The Tree that Never Dies: Oral history of the Michigan Indians. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Grand Rapids Public Library, 1978. • Gilmore, Melvin R. "Some Chippewa Uses of Plants." Papers of the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts and Letters XVII (1933): 119-143. • Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Commission. Plants Used by the Great Lakes Ojibwa. • Geniuz, Mary Makoons. Our Knowledge is Not Primitive. 2009 • Johnston, Basil. Anishinaubae Thesaurus. 2007. • Kenny, Mary B., and William H. Parker. "Ojibway Plant Taxonomy at Lac Seul First Nation, Ontario Canada." Journal of Ethnobiology 24, no. 1 (2004): 75-91. • Nichols, John D, and Earl Nyholm. A Concise Dictionary of Minnesota Ojibwe. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1995. • Pokagon, Simon. O-gi-maw-kwemit-i-gwa-ki (Queen of the woods). Hartford, Michigan: C. H. Engle, 1899. • Rhodes, Richard. Eastern Ojibwa-Chippewa-Ottawa Dictionary. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter & Co., 1985. • United States Department of Agriculture; Natural Resources Conservation Service. National Plant Data Center. http://plants.usda.gov (accessed April 10, 2009). • Valentine, J. Randolph. Nishnaabemwin Reference Grammar. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2001. • Vennum Jr., Thomas. Wild Rice and the Ojibway People. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1988. • Weshki-ayaad, Charlie Lippert, and Guy T. Gambill. Freelang Ojibwe-English Dictionary.Freelang. June 11, 2009.

  18. Miigwetch! Contact: Stephanie Morse stephaniemorse@umail.ucsb.edu

More Related