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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

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

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  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

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