Wajki Weshki

Reference https://chequamegonhistory.com/tag/maangozid/

Reference https://chequamegonhistory.com/tag/maangozid

When Kitchi-Gami was translated from German into English, the original French in the book was left intact. Being an uncultured hillbilly of an American, I know very little French. Here are my efforts at translating using my limited knowledge of Ojibwe, French-Spanish cognates, and Google Translate. I make no guarantees about the accuracy of these translations. Please comment and correct them if you can.

1) This one is easy. This is Gaadawaabide, Maangozid’s father, a famous Sandy Lake chief well known to history. Google says “the one with pierced teeth.” The Ojibwe People’s Dictionary translates it as “he had a gap in his teeth.” Most 19th-century sources call him Broken Tooth, La Breche, or Katawabida (or variants thereof).

2) Also easy–this is the younger Bayaaswaa, the boy whose father traded his life for his when he was kidnapped by the Meskwaki (Fox) (see post from March 30, 2013). Bayaaswaa grew to be a famous chief at Sandy Lake who was instrumental in the 18th-century Ojibwe expansion into Minnesota. Google says “the man who makes dry.” The Ojibwe People’s Dictionary lists bayaaswaad as a word for the animate transitive verb “dry.”

3) Presumably, this mighty hunter was the man Warren called Bi-aus-wah (Bayaaswaa) the Father in History of the Ojibways. That isn’t his name here, but it was very common for Anishinaabe people to have more than one name. It says “Great Skin” right on there. Google has the French at “the man who carries a large skin.” Michiiwayaan is “big animal skin” according to the OPD.

4) Google says “because he had very red skin” for the French. I don’t know how to translate the Ojibwe or how to write it in the modern double-vowel system.

5) Weshki is a form of oshki (new, young, fresh). This is a common name for firstborn sons of prominent leaders. Weshki was the name of Waabojiig’s (White Fisher) son, and Chief Buffalo was often called in Ojibwe Gichi-weshki, which Schoolcraft translated as “The Great Firstborn.”

6) “The Southern Sky” in both languages. Zhaawano-giizhig is the modern spelling. For an fascinating story of another Anishinaabe man, named Zhaawano-giizhigo-gaawbaw (“he stands in the southern sky”), also known as Jack Fiddler, read Killing the Shamen by Thomas Fiddler and James R. Stevens. Jack Fiddler (d.1907), was a great Oji-Cree (Severn Ojibway) chief from the headwaters of the Severn River in northern Ontario. His band was one of the last truly uncolonized Indian nations in North America. He commited suicide in RCMP custody after he was arrested for killing a member of his band who had gone windigo.

7) Google says, “the timber sprout.” Mitig is tree or stick. Something along the lines of sprouting from earth makes sense with “akosh,” but my Ojibwe isn’t good enough to combine them correctly in the modern spelling. Let me know if you can.

8) Google just says, “man red head.” Red Head is clearly the Ojibwe meaning also–miskondibe (OPD).

9) “The Sky is Afraid of the Man”–I can’t figure out how to write this in the modern Ojibwe, but this has to be one of the coolest names anyone has ever had.

• *UPDATE** 5/14/13

Thank you Charles Lippert for sending me the following clarifications:
“Kadawibida Gaa-dawaabide Cracked Tooth
Bajasswa Bayaaswaa Dry-one
Matchiwaijan Mechiwayaan Great Hide
Wajki Weshki Youth
Schawanagijik Zhaawano-giizhig Southern Skies
Mitiguakosh Mitigwaakoonzh Wooden beak
Miskwandibagan Miskwandibegan Red Skull
Gijigossekot Giizhig-gosigwad The Sky Fears

LEADERSHIP OF THE PEMBINA CHIPPEWA NATION

The Wazhazha Mdewakanton of the O'Jibway Nation is ceremonial. The O'Jibway Nation traces back 2000 years as a collection of Nations who unified and worked collectively to establish trade, and family unity, among the Haudenosaunee, Anishinaabemowin, and Algonquin descendants of the Great Lakes. Ojibwa, also spelled Ojibwe or Ojibway, also called Chippewa, self-name Anishinaabe, Algonquian-speaking North American Indian tribe who lived in what are now Ontario and Manitoba, Can., and Minnesota and North Dakota, U.S., from Lake Huron westward onto the Plains. These matrilineal-patrilineal lines merge with one family. 

23. Private

22. Chairman Ogimaa Ma'Iingaan

21. Chairman Mr. Pat Brunelle

20. Chairman Mr. Pat Brunelle Sr.

19. Ayabewaywetung, Ase Ance, Little Shell III (1872-1903) --->Turtle Mountain Branch Separation and leadership went to Chief Joseph Kaishpa "The Elevated One" Gourneau

19. Chairman Mr. John Baptiste Brunelle "The Little Shell" --->Pembina Chippewa Tribe Separation and leadership went to Chairman Mr. Pat Brunelle Sr.

18. Little Shell II Weesh-e-damo, Aisaince III (1813-1872)

18. Joseph Montreuil

17. Chief Makadeshib Black Duck (1811-1813)

17. Chief Tabashaw, Ase Ance II (1790-1804)

16. Chief of the Chippewa Red Bear I

16. Chief Little Shell I, Standing Firm

15. Chief Gay Tay Menomin Old Wild Rice

14. Chief Kaŋgidaŋ Mdokečiŋhaŋ, Little Crow I

13. Chief Delonaise Atetaŋkawamduška Wáȟpe Šá

12. Chief White Crane Waub-i-je-jauk equay-say-way

11. Bad River Grand Chief Mamaangĕzide "Loons Foot" "Big Foot"

10. Chief Kahdewahbeday Broken Tooth

9. Bajasswa

8. Matchiwaijan Bayaaswaa

7. Jos O'Jiibway

6. Wajawadajkoa

5. Wajki Weshki

4. Schawanagijik

3. Mitiguakosh

2. Miskwandibagan

1. Gijigossekot Heavens Fear This Man

O'Jibway Nation Ogimaakwe: Machequayaince daughter of Wazhazha Mdewakanton Dakota Grand Chief Chief Delonaise Atetaŋkawamduška Wáȟpe Šá; sister of Chief of the Chippewa Red Bear I, son of Bajasswa