1762 Three Cherokee Chiefs
The proper name by which the Cherokee call themselves is
Yûñ'wiya', or Ani'-Yûñ'wiya' in the third person, signifying "real people," or "principal people," a word closely related to Oñwe-hoñwe, the name by which the cognate Iroquois know themselves. The word properly denotes "Indians," as distinguished from people of other races, but in usage it is restricted to mean members of the Cherokee tribe, those of other tribes being designated as Creek, Catawba, etc.,
as the case may be. On ceremonial occasions they frequently speak of
themselves as Ani'-Kitu'hwagi, or "people of Kitu'hwa," an ancient
settlement on Tuckasegee river and apparently the original nucleus of
the tribe. Among the western Cherokee this name has been adopted by
a secret society recruited from the full-blood element and pledged
to resist the advances of the white man's civilization. Under the
various forms of Cuttawa, Gattochwa, Kittuwa, etc., as spelled by
different authors, it was also used by several northern Algonquian
tribes as a synonym for Cherokee.
Cherokee, the name by which they are commonly known, has no meaning
in their own language, and seems to be of foreign origin. As used
among themselves the form is Tsa'lagi' or Tsa'ragi'. It first appears
as Chalaque in the Portuguese narrative of De Soto's expedition,
published originally in 1557, while we find Cheraqui in a French
document of 1699, and Cherokee as an English form as early, at least,
as 1708. The name has thus an authentic history of 360 years. There is
evidence that it is derived from the Choctaw word choluk or chiluk,
signifying a pit or cave, and comes to us through the so-called
Mobilian trade language, a corrupted Choctaw jargon formerly used as
the medium of communication among all the tribes of the Gulf states,
as far north as the mouth of the Ohio).
Within this area many of the tribes were commonly known under Choctaw names, even though of
widely differing linguistic stocks, and if such a name existed for
the Cherokee it must undoubtedly have been communicated to the first
Spanish explorers by De Soto's interpreters. This theory is borne out
by their Iroquois (Mohawk) name, Oyata'ge`ronoñ', as given by Hewitt,
signifying "inhabitants of the cave country," the Allegheny region
being peculiarly a cave country, in which "rock shelters," containing
numerous traces of Indian occupancy, are of frequent occurrence. Their
Catawba name also, Mañterañ, as given by Gatschet, signifying "coming
out of the ground," seems to contain the same reference. Adair's
attempt to connect the name Cherokee with their word for fire, atsila,
is an error founded upon imperfect knowledge of the language.
Among other synonyms for the tribe are Rickahockan, or Rechahecrian,
the ancient Powhatan name, and Tallige', or Tallige'wi, the ancient
name used in the Walam Olum chronicle of the Lenape'. Concerning both
the application and the etymology of this last name there has been
much dispute, but there seems no reasonable doubt as to the identity
of the people.
Extracted from: Myths of the Cherokee. Extract from the Nineteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology. Washington Government Printing Office 1902
Recorded by James Mooney (1861-1921) was an American ethnographer who lived for several years among the Cherokee.