cmasthay

powwow

The American Indian word most inconsistently spelled all over North America is “powwow,” which has a lower-case p and no hyphen or space. It came from the Algonquian Massachusett (formerly “Natick” and Wampanoag/Wôpanâak) pauwau and Narragansett (in Rhode Island) powwaw and means ‘he dreams’ in more ancient times but in more recent times ‘he uses divination’, with the final -w meaning a verbal ‘he’ or ‘she’, and so it has to be an unbroken word, not Pow Wow or PowWow or Pow-Wow.
Back in the mid-1970s this note was passed over to most of the indigenous Amerindian newspapers, in which it was published and adopted as houseword style from then on, but as time passed and inconsistent use kept on resurfacing, there is some need to restate this minor matter.
Carl Masthay, 838 Larkin Ave., Creve Coeur (St. Louis), MO 63141
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Would there be any chance that you could help relay the "word" to those who set up powwows? I know that each has his or her preference, but even a little nudge might help the messy word spelling! Thanks!
Carl

middle of the sky

why are the algonkians getting mad? are you with the speeling police?

Mato Winyan

:Thinking Hmmm ... I thought the most inconsistently spelled American Indian word would be ... tipi... teepee.. tepee...tee-pee.. tipee etc. :dontknow:

:D

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"We see it as a desecration not only of a mountain but of our way of life. This is a genocidal issue to us. If they kill this mountain, they kill our way of life." ~Debra White Plume

*Brown Eyed Gurl*

lol...cheeky MOTS?;)

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middle of the sky

::): well, you know...its like that age old question...well not that old...does culture change, evolve, or stagnate, whats in a rose?...if people are having fun at pow-wows and theyre not out doing negative stuff, whatever way you spell it.as long as pow-wows are going on..im wondering who "past this note in the mid 70's?" "who needs to restate this minor matter?" carl what about "ider" or "axed?" are you going to nudge people that used this mispronounced words also?