Native American influence on American English?

31 comments

1. There are a lot of states and other geographic things (towns, rivers, etc.) based on Native American languages and there are several words now in English based on Native American languages. But I don’t think any are specifically American English. For example, Illinois and chipmunk are the same no matter what flavor English you use.

2. There are tons of places and things named with Native American language

3. Many of the towns, lakes, roads etc are anglicized native words here in New Jersey. This is very common throughout the country. As for actual words in common language? While I’m sure there are some, it’s not really a whole lot that I am aware of.

4. Mostly just in place names. Maybe a few foods.

5. There are a lot of words in English that are derived from Native American languages. Lots of states or other geographical places in the US are also derived from Native American languages.

6. Igloo, anorak, avocado, canoe, barbecue, squash, hickory, opossum, pecan, skunk, squash, hammock, axolotl, and many, many more.

7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_from_indigenous_languages_of_the_Americas

   A lot, mostly place names and animals and crops native to the Americas, like moose, skunk, opossum, tomato, avocado, squash, and cacao. A lot of words from Central and South American languages entered English through Spanish.

   Many US states and countless counties, towns, and rivers have names from Native languages.

8. Washington State is full towns, rivers, and areas that originate from local Native American tribes. It makes it easy to tell who is not from the area when they try to pronounce a town like Sequim, Hoquiam, or Puyallup.

9. Yes many states are named after the tribes who originally lived there but were wiped out. It’s a tragic legacy. “We killed you and destroyed your culture but we named this stolen land after you!”

10. Pretty much every river in Ohio still uses the name the indigenous people gave it.

11. In Florida: Homosassa, Oklawaha, Chokoloskee, etc… lots of others.

12. In southwest PA, Susquehanna, Conshohocken, Ganoshowanna, etc.

    Edit: southeast **

13. Totem, toboggan, tomahawk, caucus, guano, barbecue, buccaneer, igloo, kayak, canoe, hammock, hurricane, mangrove, savanna, cougar, husky, bayou, cannibal, hooch, powwow, and many more.

14. In NY state half the named places are of native origin including Manhattan.

15. I don’t think using native words for places is really an “influence” on the language. Most indigenous American words that are used in English are just words for things that Europeans didn’t already have words for, like native animals and plants.

    Here are some that I think actually count:

    “Caucus” from Algonquin,

    “Barbecue” and “buccaneer” from Arawakan,

    “Canoe,” “cay,” “hammock,” “hurricane,” and “savannah” from Taino,

    “Hooch” (i.e. alcohol) from Tlingit,

    and “potlatch” (and possibly “potluck”, but that is disputed) from Chinook trade jargon.

16. It’s not just American English.. it’s all of English.. hundreds of words.

    Of note is *jaguar*.. that word comes from over here but the Brits make fun of us for not knowing how to pronounce it 😉

17. Shitloads of the states have names that are native in origin. You have Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, the Dakotas, Hawaii (is that Native American? It’s native something), maybe Idaho (nobody really knows), Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico (indirectly), Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

    Overall, 27/50 states have names based on or derived from native words and place names. Not to mention all the cities, towns, rivers, lakes, and other place names, and all the other regular-language words people have mentioned.

18. There’s a lot of random words. A lot of it comes through location names. Not just states but names of rivers, mountains, cities, and other kinds of things are based on native words. For example, I live near Antietam Creek (Algonquian for “swift water”) which flows into the Potomac River (named after an Algonquian village). This is in the middle of the Appalachian Mountain Range (named after the Appalachee tribe), specifically in the Great Valley which to the south of the Potomac is known as the Shenandoah Valley (named after an Algonquian term of disputed translation).

    There’s also a lot of plants and animals native to the US which are known by their name in a native language or some variation. A few other random words like canoe, barbecue, and shack are ultimately derived from native root words.

19. There’s an exhausting list of automobiles, trucks, military aircraft and weapons.

20. An amazing number of city and place names in upstate NY are derived from Indian sources.

21. Honestly, I would argue that Native American languages have had very little influence on American English. Why? Because the overwhelming majority of Native words that have been absorbed into the language are just nouns. There may well be some verbs that got absorbed, but I can’t think of any.

    Adopting nouns from other languages doesn’t really qualify as *influencing* the language – it just gives names to things that didn’t have names in English.

    That said, it’s definitely true that Native languages have a strong presence in modern American English. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of Native-derived nouns used on a daily basis, and many more that crop up from time to time.

22. almost every town name around where i live is named after a Native American word lol (Long Island: Massapequa. Quogue. Patchogue. Montauk. Tuckahoe. Amagansett. Speonk. Mashashimuet. Shinnecock. And many more.)

23. The names of many states, towns, and rivers come directly from a Native American language – most likely the one that was spoken in that area before Europeans arrived.

24. It’s a superficial influence, almost entirely just in words for things and places that the colonists didn’t have words for already. There are a lot of those though.

25. In Wisconsin, there are very many counties and communities that have or derived from Native American names Milwaukee, Mukwonago, Oconomowoc, Muskego, Waukesha, etc.

26. If you’re in Florida, and you see a location name that ends with “ee”, it is referring to some kind of body of water. Lake, river, spring, it’s gonna be something to do with water.

27. hella cities

28. You’ll probably get better answers somewhere like /r/askhistorians than you will here.

29. Additionally there are a lot of words brought in from native trade languages like Chinook Jargon like high muckymuck and potlach, or Native Hawaiian like tattoo/kakau, tiki/ki’i, or taboo/kapu.

30. I’ve noticed that the sound of native languages in the plains is shared a little bit with the accent that people have in those places.

31. Has there been any grammatical/structural influence?

    Someone downthread mentioned ‘rattlesnake’ where the verb is tacked straight onto the noun.