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The most common name for the confederacy, '''Iroquois''', is of somewhat obscure origin. The first time it appears in writing is in the account of [[Samuel_de_Champlain|Samuel de Champlain]] of his journey to Tadoussac in 1603, where it occurs as "Irocois".<ref>Day, Gordon M. (Autumn, 1968). "Iroquois: An Etymology." ''Ethnohistory''. '''15(4)''': 389-402.</ref> Other spellings occurring in the earliest sources include "Erocoise", "Hiroquois", "Hyroquoise", "Irecoies", "Iriquois", "Iroquaes", "Irroquois", and "Yroquois".<ref>Goddard, I., "Synonymy." In G. Trigger (Ed.), ''Handbook of North American Indians: Northeast'' (Vol. 15, pp. 319-321). 1978.</ref> In the French spoken at the time, this would have been pronounced as [irokwe] or [irokwɛ].<ref>[e] pronunciation according to Goddard, 1978. [ɛ] pronunciation according to Day, 1968.</ref> Over the years, several competing theories have been proposed for this name's ultimate origin— the earliest such proposal is by the Jesuit priest [[Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix]], who wrote in 1744: <blockquote><p>The name Iroquois is purely French, and is formed from the 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.<ref>Quoted in Day, 1968.</ref></p></blockquote> |
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In 1883, [[Horatio Hale]] wrote that the Charlevoix etymology was dubious, and that "no other nation or tribe of which we have any knowledge has ever borne a name composed in this whimsical fashion."<ref>Quoted in Day, 1968.</ref> Hale suggested instead that the term came [[Wyandot_language|Huron]], and was cognate with Mohawk ''ierokwa'' "they who smoke" or Cayuga ''iakwai'' "a bear". [[John Napoleon Brinton Hewitt|J.N.B. Hewitt]] responded to Hale's etymology in 1888 by expressing doubt that either of those words even exist in the respective languages. His preferred etymology at the time was from [[Innu_language|Montagnais]] ''irin'' "true, real" and ''ako'' "snake", plus the French ''-ois'' suffix, though he later revised his theory to state that the source was [[Algonquin_language|Algonquin]] ''Iriⁿakhoiw''.<ref>Day, 1968</ref><ref>H[ewitt], J.N. (1907). "Iroquois". In Hodge, Frederick Webb (Ed.) ''Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico'', pp 617-620.</ref> However, none of these etymologies gained widespread acceptance, and by 1978 [[Ives_Goddard|Ives Goddard]] could write: "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."<ref>Goddard, 1978.</ref> |
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A more modern etymology is that advocated by Gordon M. Day in 1968, who elaborates upon an earlier etymology given by Charles Arnaud in 1880. Arnaud had claimed that the word came from Montagnais ''irnokué'', meaning "terrible man", via the reduced form ''irokue''. Day proposes a hypothetical Montagnais 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 Montagnais 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 tribes to refer to the Iroquois, Hurons, and [[St._Lawrence_Iroquoians|Laurentians]].<ref>Day, 1968.</ref> |
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More recently, Peter Bakker has proposed a Basque origin for "Iroquois". Basque fishermen and whalers are known to have frequented the waters of Canada in the 1500s, so much so that a [[Algonquian–Basque_pidgin|Basque-based pidgin]] developed for communication among the Algonquian tribes and Europeans of the region. Bakker claims that it is unlikely that "-quois" derives from a root specifically used to refer to the Iroquois, citing as evidence that several other Indian tribes of the region were known to the French by names terminating in the same element, e.g. "Armouchiquois", "Charioquois", "Excomminquois", and "Souriquois". He proposes instead that the word derives from ''hilokoa'' (via the intermediate form ''irokoa''), from the Basque roots ''hil'' "to kill", ''ko'' (the locative genitive suffix), and ''a'' (the definite article suffix). In favor of an original form beginning with /h/, Bakker cites alternate spellings such as "hyroquois" sometimes found in documents from the period, and the fact that in the Southern dialect of Basque the word ''hil'' is pronounced ''il''. He also argues that the /l/ was rendered as /r/ since the former is not attested in the phonemic inventory of any language in the region (including [[Malecite-Passamaquoddy language|Maliseet]], which developed an /l/ later). Thus the word according to Bakker is translatable as "the killer people," and is similar to other terms used by Eastern Algonquian tribes to refer to the Iroquois which translate as "murderers".<ref>Bakker, Peter (1991). "A Basque etymology for the amerindian tribal name ''Iroquois''." ''Anuario del Seminario de Filología Vasca (ASJU Geh). '''14(2)''': 1119-1124.</ref><ref>Bakker, Peter (2002). "Amerindian Tribal Names in North America of Possible Basque Origin." In Artiagoitia, X., R.P.G. de Rijk, P. Goenaga, and J. Lakarra (Ed.), ''Erramau Boneta: Festschrift for Rudolf P.G. de Rijk'', pp 105-116.</ref> |
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A different term, '''Haudenosaunee''', is the designation more commonly used by the Iroquois to refer to themselves.{{citation needed}} It is also occasionally preferred by scholars of Native American history who consider the name "Iroquois" to be derogatory in origin.<ref>c.f. Kasak, Ryan M. (2016). "A distant genetic relationship between Siouan-Catawban and Yuchi". In Rudin, Catherine and Bryan J. Gordon (Ed.) ''Advances in the study of Siouan languages and linguistics'', pp. 5-38.</ref> This name derives 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".<ref>Haudenosaunee. (n.d.). Retrieved January 27th, 2017, from http://www.yourdictionary.com/haudenosaunee.</ref><ref>Chafe, Wallace (n.d.). ''English - Seneca Dictionary'', p. 88.</ref><ref>Goddard, 1978.</ref> The word "Haudenosaunee" first appears in English in Lewis Henry Morgan (1851), where it is spelled ''Ho-de´-no-sau-nee'', although the spelling "Hotinnonsionni" is also attested from later in the nineteenth century.<ref>Morgan, Lewis H. (1851). ''League of the Ho-de´-no-sau-nee or Iroquois''. Rochester: Sage & Brother, Publishers.</ref><ref>Goddard, 1978</ref> An alternate designation, '''Ganonsyoni''', is occasionally encountered as well.<ref>E.g. in Graymont, Barbara (1972). ''The Iroquois in the American Revolution'', pp 14-15, Rausch, David A. and Blair Schlepp, (1994). ''Native American Voices'', p 45, and Wolf, Eric R. (1982) ''Europe and the People Without History'', p 165.</ref> This term derives from the Mohawk ''kanǫhsyǫ́·ni'' ("the extended house"), or from a cognate expression is a related Iroquoian language, and is frequently encountered in earlier sources variously spelled "Kanosoni", "akwanoschioni", "Aquanuschioni", "Cannassoone", "Canossoone", "Ke-nunctioni", or "Konossioni".<ref>Goddard, 1978</ref> More transparently, the Iroquois confederacy is also often referred to simply as the '''Six Nations''' (or, for the period before the entry of the Tuscarora in 1722, the '''Five Nations''').<ref>Goddard, 1978. Also frequently used on the official Haudenosaunee Confederacy website: http://www.haudenosauneeconfederacy.com.</ref> |
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