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myindependentopinion t1_iu5rksr wrote

Reply to comment by remarkablyoblivious in TIL that when the French first arrived in North America they met the Ojibwe Indians who introduced them to other tribes but used nasty names. The Lakota/Dakota people were called "Nadowessiwag," which became Nadouessioux in French, then Sioux in English. It means "little snake." by marmorset

I'm an enrolled member of the Menominee Tribe of WI and we were named by the Ojibwe/Chippewa but it was complimentary. They were & are our friends.

The Chippewa referred to us as "the wild rice people" from their word "manoomin" (meaning good grain or berry) because they thought that wherever my tribe traveled in the old days that wild rice would flourish at our feet which was a good thing.

Wild rice isn't true rice. So when the French re-translated our tribe's name it became "folles avoines" or "crazy oats" and yikes...that's what we were called in the 1701 treaty of the Great Peace of Montreal but none of my ancestors spoke/read French at the time to know the meaning.

Our name for ourselves in our own language is Mamaceqtaw. But because all our US Govt. treaties refer to us as Menominee/Menomini, we are reluctant to change our name so as not to invalidate our treaty rights.

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Falsus t1_iu72ouj wrote

At least you lucked out in the name lottery. Imagine if your tribe had been named by your mortal enemies and rivals lmao.

The modern version would probably be like being named by a CoD kid.

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Jeff_From_IT t1_iu6x2tn wrote

As they say, the real TIL is in the comments. But in this case it's all new info, so bonus knowledge?

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traficantedemel t1_iu6c7m7 wrote

>Mamaceqtaw

does it mean anything? is it a 'translation' of manoomin?

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Seraphim9120 t1_iu8opd1 wrote

Manoomin/menominee: name given to them by their allies; people of the wild rice in the allies' language

Mamaceqtaw: their own name for their own tribe. Simply means "people" or "tribe" in their own language, if my google is correct.

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Gasur t1_iu87nrw wrote

If you were translating folles avoine literally, it would be fool's oats rather than crazy oats.

English uses the same concept sometimes. Pyrite is also known as fool's gold for example.

Still not what they should have been calling your tribe of course.

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asrenos t1_iu9g1bt wrote

Not really, it's an archaic use of fol (fou in modern French) in it's feminine form which is used in that context to designate plants that grow abundantly and seemingly randomly. You can search for "Herbe folle" if you want more info on that.

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asrenos t1_iu9gzy7 wrote

It does not translate well from French, it's an archaic use of fol (fou in modern French) in it's feminine form which is used in that context to designate plants that grow abundantly and seemingly randomly. You can search for "Herbe folle" if you want more info on that.

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