Iroquois Indians; Mohawk language -- Texts; Onondaga language -- Texts
Thus the head-chief of the Onondagas was often known by the
title of _Sakosennakehte_, "the Name-carrier." [Footnote: "Il y avait en
cette bande un Capitaine qui porte'le nom le plus considerable de toute
sa Nation, Sagochiendagehte."--_Relation_ of 1654, p. 8. Elsewhere, as
in the _Relation_ for 1657, p. 17, this name is spelt Agochiendaguete.]
The name of the Oneida nation in the Council was _Nihatirontakowa_--or,
in the Onondaga dialect, _Nihatientakona_--usually rendered the
"Great-Tree People,"--literally, "those of the great log." It is derived
from _karonta_, a fallen tree or piece of timber, with the suffix _kowa_
or _kona_, great, added, and the verb-forming pronoun prefixed. In the
singular number it becomes _Niharontakowa_, which would be understood to
mean "He is an Oneida." The name, it is said, was given to the nation
because when Dekanawidah and Hiawatha first went to meet its chief, they
crossed the Oneida creek on a bridge composed of an immense tree which
had fallen or been laid across it, and noted that the Council fire at
which the treaty was concluded was kindled against another huge log.
These, however, may be merely explanations invented in later times.
The Cayugas bore in Council the name of _Sotinonnawentona_, meaning "the
Great-Pipe People." In the singular it is _Sononnawentona_. The root of
the word is _kanonnawen_, which in composition becomes _kanonnawenta_,
meaning pipe, or calumet. It is said that the chief who in the first
Council represented the Cayugas smoked a pipe of unusual size, which
attracted the notice of the "name-givers."
Finally the Seneca mountaineers, the _Sonnontowanas_, bore the title, in
the Canienga speech, of _Ronaninhohonti_, "the Door-keepers," or
literally, "they who are at the doorway." In the singular this becomes
_Roninhohonti_. In the Onondaga dialect it is _Honinhohonta_. It is a
verbal form, derived from _Kanhoha_, door, and _ont_, to be. This name
is undoubtedly coeval with the formation of the League, and was bestowed
as a title of honor. The Senecas, at the western end of the "extended
mansion," guarded the entrance against the wild tribes in that quarter,
whose hostility was most to be dreaded.
The enumeration of the chiefs who formed the confederacy is closed by
the significant words, "and then, in later times, additions were made to
the great edifice." This is sufficient evidence that the Canienga "Book
of Rites" was composed in its present form after the Tuscaroras, and
possibly after the Nanticokes and Tuteloes, were received into the
League. The Tuscaroras were admitted in 1714; the two other nations were
received about the year 1753. [Footnote: The former date is well known;
for the latter, see _N. Y. Hist. Col._, Vol. 6, p. 311; Stone's _Life of
Sir William Johnson_, p. 434.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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