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The Cheyenne (/ʃaɪˈæn/ shy-AN) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enrolled in the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes in Oklahoma, and the Northern Cheyenne, who are enrolled in the Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in Montana. The Cheyenne comprise two Native American tribes, the Só'taeo'o or Só'taétaneo'o (more commonly spelled as Suhtai or Sutaio) and the Tsétsêhéstâhese (also spelled Tsitsistas,). The tribes merged in the early 19th century.
At the time of their first European contact, the Cheyenne lived in what is now Minnesota. They were close allies of the Arapaho and loosely aligned with the Lakota. By the early 18th century, they were forced west across the Missouri River and into North and South Dakota, where they adopted the horse culture. Having settled the Black Hills of South Dakota and the Powder River Country of present-day Montana and Wyoming, they introduced the horse culture to Lakota people about 1730. With the Arapaho, the Cheyenne pushed the Kiowa to the Southern Plains. In turn, they were pushed west by the more numerous Lakota.
The main group of Cheyenne, the Tsêhéstáno, was once composed of ten bands that spread across the Great Plains from southern Colorado to the Black Hills in South Dakota. They fought their historic enemies, the Crow and later (1856–79) the United States Army. In the mid-19th century, the bands began to split, with some bands choosing to remain near the Black Hills, while others chose to remain near the Platte Rivers of central Colorado.
The Northern Cheyenne, known in Cheyenne either as Notameohmésêhese, meaning "Northern Eaters" or simply as Ohmésêhese meaning "Eaters", live in southeastern Montana on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation. Tribal enrollment figures, as of late 2014, indicate that there are approximately 10,840 members, of which about 4,939 reside on the reservation. Approximately 91% of the population are Native Americans (full or part race), with 72.8% identifying themselves as Cheyenne. Slightly more than one quarter of the population five years or older spoke a language other than English. The Southern Cheyenne, known in Cheyenne as Heévâhetaneo'o meaning "Roped People", together with the Southern Arapaho, form the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, in western Oklahoma. Their combined population is 12,130, as of 2008. In 2003, approximately 8,000 of these identified themselves as Cheyenne, although with continuing intermarriage it has become increasingly difficult to separate the tribes.
The Cheyenne are composed of two tribes, the Só'taeo'o or Só'taétaneo'o (more commonly as Suhtai or Sutaio; singular: Só'taétane) and the Tsétsêhéstâhese (more commonly as the Tsitsistas; singular: Tsétsêhéstaestse), which translates to "those who are like this".[6] Both tribes had always traveled together and fully merged sometime after 1883, though maintained separate camps. The Suhtai had slightly different speech and customs from their traveling companions.
The name "Cheyenne" derive from the Lakota Sioux exonym Šahíyena meaning "little Šahíya". The identity of the Šahíya is not known, but many Great Plains tribes assume that it means Cree or another people who spoke an Algonquian language related to Cree and Cheyenne. The Cheyenne word for Ojibwe is Sáhea'eo'o, a word that sounds similar to the Lakota word Šahíya.
Another of the common etymologies for Cheyenne is "a bit like the [people of an] alien speech" (literally, "red-talker"). According to George Bird Grinnell, the Lakota had referred to themselves and fellow Siouan-language bands as "white talkers", and those of other language families, such as the Algonquian Cheyenne, as "red talkers" (Šahíyena).
The etymology of the name Tsitsistas (technically Tsétsėhéstȧhese), which the Cheyenne call themselves, is uncertain. According to the Cheyenne dictionary offered online by Chief Dull Knife College, there is no definitive consensus, though various studies of the origins and translation of the word have been suggested. Grinnell's record is typical and states, "They call themselves Tsistsistas [sic, Tsitsistas is the correct pronunciation], which the books commonly give as meaning "people". It most likely means related to one another, similarly bred, like us, our people, or us.[10] The term for the Cheyenne homeland is Tsiihistano.
The Cheyenne of Montana and Oklahoma speak the Cheyenne language, known as Tsêhésenêstsestôtse (common spelling: Tsisinstsistots). Approximately 800 people speak Cheyenne in Oklahoma. There are only a handful of vocabulary differences between the two locations. The Cheyenne alphabet contains 14 letters. The Cheyenne language is one of the larger Algonquian-language group. Formerly, the Só'taeo'o (Só'taétaneo'o) or Suhtai (Sutaio) bands of Southern and Northern Cheyenne spoke Só'taéka'ęškóne or Só'taenęstsestôtse, a language so close to Tsêhésenêstsestôtse (Cheyenne language), that it is sometimes termed a Cheyenne dialect.