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// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did the Haudenosaunee name say to itself? "I'm a name to be reckoned with, I'm Iroquois-ly famous".

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Iroquois dictionary, Jesuit fathers, Quebec, c. 1660

Haudenosaunee (People of the Longhouse)[a] is the autonym by which the Six Nations refer to themselves.[1] Iroquois, a common historical name, is a term of colonial origin which some scholars consider a derogatory name adopted from the traditional enemies of the Haudenosaunee.[2]

Haudenosaunee

[edit]

Haudenosaunee[a] (/ˌhoʊdɪnoʊˈʃoʊni/ HOH-din-oh-SHOH-nee;[10] lit. 'those who build the longhouse'),[11][12] is an anglicized spelling derived from two phonetically similar but etymologically distinct words in the Seneca language: Hodínöhšö꞉ni꞉h, meaning "those of the extended house", and Hodínöhsö꞉ni꞉h, meaning "house builders".[13][14][15] The name "Haudenosaunee" first appears in English in Lewis Henry Morgan's work (1851), where he writes it as Ho-dé-no-sau-nee. The spelling "Hotinnonsionni" is also attested from later in the 19th century.[13][16] An alternative designation, Ganonsyoni, is occasionally encountered as well,[17] from the Mohawk kanǫhsyǫ́·ni "the extended house", or from a cognate expression in a related Iroquoian language; in earlier sources it is variously spelled "Kanosoni", "akwanoschioni", "Aquanuschioni", "Cannassoone", "Canossoone", "Ke-nunctioni", or "Konossioni".[13]

The Haudenosaunee use the traditional longhouse as a symbol of their Confederacy. Each nation is assigned a symbolic role within this structure, with the eastern and westernmost nations, the Mohawk and Seneca, serving as Keepers of the Eastern and Western Door respectively and the centrally-located Onondaga serving as the Keepers of the Fire.[18] In keeping with the imagery of a family under one roof, the Mohawk, Seneca, and Onondaga are recognized as Elder Brothers in the Grand Council, while the Cayuga and Oneida are the Younger Brothers.[19]

Six Nations

[edit]

The Haudenosaunee have also been called the Six Nations,[b][c] after the constituent nations of the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora. Prior to the entry of the Tuscarora into the confederacy in 1622, they were known as the Five Nations.[d]

Ongweh’onweh

[edit]

A less common, older autonym for the people of the confederation is Ongweh’onweh,[e] meaning "Original People"[25][26] or "Real Human Being".[27]

Iroquois

[edit]

The origins of the name Iroquois (/ˈɪrəkwɔɪ, -kwɑː/ IRR-ə-kwoy, -⁠kwah) are somewhat obscure, although the term has historically been used in French texts, according to the Haudenosaunee Conferedacy.[1] Its first written appearance as "Irocois" is in Samuel de Champlain's account of his journey to Tadoussac in 1603.[28][page needed] Other early French spellings include "Erocoise", "Hiroquois", "Hyroquoise", "Irecoies", "Iriquois", "Iroquaes", "Irroquois", and "Yroquois",[13] pronounced at the time as [irokwe] or [irokwɛ].[f] Competing theories have been proposed for this term's origin, but none has gained widespread acceptance. In 1978 Ives Goddard wrote: "No such form is attested in any Indian language as a name for any Iroquoian group, and the ultimate origin and meaning of the name are unknown."[13]

Jesuit priest and missionary Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix wrote in 1744:

The name Iroquois is purely French, and is formed from the [Iroquoian-language] term Hiro or Hero, which means I have said—with which these Indians close all their addresses, as the Latins did of old with their dixi—and of Koué, which is a cry sometimes of sadness, when it is prolonged, and sometimes of joy, when it is pronounced shorter.[28][page needed]

In 1883, Horatio Hale wrote that Charlevoix's etymology was dubious.[28][page needed] Hale suggested instead that the term came from Huron, and was cognate with the Mohawk ierokwa "they who smoke", or Cayuga iakwai "a bear". In 1888, J. N. B. Hewitt expressed doubts that either of those words existed in the respective languages. He preferred the etymology from Innu-aimun (Montagnais) irin "true, real" and ako "snake", plus the French -ois suffix. Later he revised this to Algonquin Iriⁿakhoiw as the origin.[28][page needed][29]

A more modern etymology was advocated by Gordon M. Day in 1968, elaborating upon Charles Arnaud from 1880. Arnaud had claimed that the word came from Innu irnokué, meaning "terrible man", via the reduced form irokue. Day proposed a hypothetical Innu phrase irno kwédač, meaning "a man, an Iroquois", as the origin of this term. For the first element irno, Day cites cognates from other attested Innu dialects: irinou, iriniȣ, and ilnu; and for the second element kwédač, he suggests a relation to kouetakiou, kȣetat-chiȣin, and goéṭètjg – names used by neighboring Algonquian peoples to refer to the Haudenosaunee, Wendat (Huron), and Laurentian peoples.[28][page needed]

The Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America attests the origin of Iroquois to Iroqu, Algonquian for "rattlesnake".[30] The French encountered the Algonquian-speaking tribes first, and would have learned the Algonquian names for their Haudenosaunee competitors.[citation needed]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. 1 2
  2. ↑
  3. ↑ This is frequently used on the official Haudenosaunee Confederacy website.[1]
  4. ↑
  5. ↑
  6. ↑ [e] pronunciation according to Goddard (1978). [ɛ] pronunciation according to Day (1968).[page needed]
  1. 1 2 3 "Home". Haudenosaunee Confederacy. Retrieved 20 April 2026.
  2. ↑ Kasak, Ryan M. (2016). "A distant genetic relationship between Siouan-Catawban and Yuchi". In Rudin, Catherine; Gordon, Bryan J. (eds.). Advances in the Study of Siouan Languages and Linguistics. pp. 5–38.
  3. ↑ "Rotinonsionni, which is the Kanienkehaka (Mohawk) word for Haudenosaunee". Kanienkehaka Lifeways – Mohawk Valley, circa 1500 Archived August 17, 2021, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
  4. ↑ "Oneida Cultural Heritage". Oneida Nation. Oneida Nation of Wisconsin. Retrieved 6 June 2026.
  5. 1 2 "Who Are We?". Oneida Language and Cultural Centre. Oneida Language and Cultural Centre. Retrieved 6 June 2026.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Woodbury, Hanni (2003). "Iroquois Confederacy". Onondaga-English / English-Onondaga Dictionary. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. p. 1182. ISBN 9781442623637.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Dyck, Carrie, Froman, Frances, Keye, Alfred & Keye, Lottie. 2024. A grammar and dictionary of Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ (Cayuga). (Studies of Amerindian Linguistics). Berlin: Language Science Press. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.10473483. Pg 3
  8. 1 2 3 4 Chafe, Chafe (2014). "Iroquois." (PDF). English-Seneca Dictionary. Onöndowa'ga:' Gawë:nö' (Seneca Language) Department. p. 88.
  9. ↑ Rudes, Blair A. (2015). "Akunęhsyę̀·niˀ". Tuscarora–English/English–Tuscarora Dictionary. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. p. 42. ISBN 9781442628809.
  10. ↑ Keh, Andrew; Kiehart, Pete (July 27, 2022). "How Indigenous Athletes Are Reclaiming Lacrosse". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 27, 2022. Haudenosaunee (hoe-dee-no-SHOW-nee)
  11. ↑ "Who We Are". Haudenosaunee Confederacy. Accessed October 24, 2025.
  12. ↑ "Haudenosaunee (Iroquois)". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Accessed October 2025.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 Goddard, I. (1978). "Synonymy". In G. Trigger (ed.). Handbook of North American Indians: Northeast. Vol. 15. pp. 319–321.
  14. ↑ "Haudenosaunee". Your Dictionary. Archived from the original on August 9, 2020. Retrieved January 27, 2017.
  15. ↑ Chafe, Wallace. English – Seneca Dictionary (PDF). p. 88. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 19, 2024. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
  16. ↑ Morgan, 1904
  17. ↑ E.g. in Graymont (1972), pp. 14–15; Rausch, David A.; Blair, Schlepp (1994). Native American Voices. p. 45.; and Wolf, Eric R. (1982). Europe and the People Without History. p. 165.
  18. ↑ "'We have a different way of thinking': Mohawk faithkeeper shares importance of spirituality". CBC News. 2020-02-22. Retrieved 2025-03-10.
  19. ↑ "Government - Confederacy Structure". Haudenosaunee Confederacy. Haudenosaunee Confederacy. Retrieved 3 September 2026.
  20. 1 2 "Kahnawà:ke Kanien'kehá:ka Kanakeráhsera". Kahnawake Longhouse. Kahnawà:ke Branch of the Mohawk Nation. Retrieved 31 July 2026.
  21. ↑ Jonathan, Stevie; Henhawk, Tehakanere; Squire, Jersey. Mohawk Language Learning Resources. Six Nations Polytechnic. Retrieved 27 September 2026.
  22. ↑ Bardeau, Phyllis E. Wms. "ONONDOWA'GA:' GAWË:NÖ' -- Seneca Language Teacher's Dictionary" (PDF). Senecalanguage.com. Retrieved 29 July 2026.
  23. ↑ "History & Culture". Kahnawake Longhouse. Kahnawà:ke Branch of the Mohawk Nation. Retrieved 31 July 2026.
  24. ↑ Rudes, Blair A. (2015). "Indian". Tuscarora-English/English-Tuscarora dictionary. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. p. 42. ISBN 9781442628809.
  25. ↑ National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior. "Finger Lakes National Heritage Area Feasibility Study". US National Park Service. Retrieved April 6, 2022.
  26. ↑ "Cultural Misconceptions".
  27. ↑ "Haudenosaunee Guide for Educators" (PDF). The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. 2009.
  28. 1 2 3 4 5 Day 1968.
  29. ↑ Hewitt, J. N. (1907). "Iroquois". In Hodge, Frederick Webb (ed.). Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico. pp. 617–620.
  30. ↑ Hall, Loretta (2014). "Iroquois Confederacy" (PDF). Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America (3rd ed.). Farmington, MI: Gale. ISBN 9780787675509. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-10-04 – via Credo Reference.
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