OAS ARCH NOTES 89-4:31-4
John Steckley
On February 18, 1989, Calvin Martin of Rutgers University addressed what seemed to be a simple question to a pile of trade goods and to a captivated audience in the McLaughlin Planetarium. He asked “What did the Indians think of these things?” (Calvin Martin “The European as Santa Claus” at “Troubled Times: Ontario’s Frontier Days” sponsored by the Royal Ontario Museum). This is not a simple question to answer, yet it is one we must try to come to grips with in order to understand trade goods as artifacts.
Europeans brought to the New World a good number of items of material culture that the Huron had not seen before. Even the kinds of substances these items were made of were new. Metal, with the exception of unsmelted copper was unknown to the Huron prior to contact. Glass was a mystery. What did they think of metal and glass and of artifacts made of these foreign materials? This short article will provide a partial answer to that question, based on an analysis of how the Huron used the noun -whist-, a term used primarily to mean metal.
1.0 Owhista Before Contact
What did the noun root -whist- mean prior to contact? Discovering this would help us see what primarily metal and secondarily glass were considered similar to. It seems that one aboriginal use of -whist- was to refer to ‘fish scales’:
1.1 “Escailles. Ohuista
(fish) scales/”
(Sagard 1866, dictionary, page 116)
1.2 “Ecaille de poisson. o8hista
/fish scales/
(FHc 1697:59; c.f., #65 and Potier 1920:452)
Two typical dictionary entries using the noun with the meaning ‘fish scales’ are the following:
1.3 “ho8histore il est couvert d’ecailles
/He is covered with scales./”
(#62, c.f., Potier 1920:431)
1.4 “sek8istenk ecale le poisson.
/Scale the fish./”
(Potier 1920:431)
In 1.3, the verb -whist- is incorporated into is -ore-, meaning ‘to cover, be covered’ (Potier 1920:431). The verb in 1.4 is -en-, generally meaning ‘to pick or gather’, typically referring to ears of corn (Potier 1920:372).
Another meaning seems to have existed aboriginally, as seen in the following:
1-5 “o8hista … ecorce de ble d’inde/bark or shell of corn/”
(Potier 1920:452)
It appears that “ecorce de ble d’inde” refers to the shell or hull of a kernel of corn. This can be seen in the following entry:
1.6 “…le casser entre 2 pierres – kah8istia,i / to break it (i.e., corn) between two stones/bled, ramoli
d/e/l’eau p/ou/r f/air/e du pain – oh8istanda8an … /corn softened by water in order to make bread/”
(FHc1697:23)
In the first case the verb used is -ia,-, meaning ‘to break’ (Potier 1920:263 #28). In the second case the verb used is -nda8a-, meaning ‘to warm, be warm’ (Potier 1920:277 #55), a verb sometimes used to refer to softening something in warm or hot water (see Steckley 1987:30 #15.2).
2.0 Owhista Referring to Metal
We can see from dictionary entries such as the following that -whist- was used to refer generically to metal:
2.1 “08hista … toute sorte de metaux/all kinds of metal/”
(FHc 1697:15; c.f., FHO, #59, #65, #67:97, and Potier 1920:630)
The main kind of metal -whist- was used to refer to was iron, the metal the 17th century French imported in the greatest amounts. That iron was considered to be the ‘basic’ -whist- can be seen in the fact that when -whist- was used to translate iron it did not have to be qualified or additionally described by being incorporated into a verb. The following is typical:
2.2 “fer o8hista/iron/”
(FHc 1697:75; c.f., FHO, #62, and #67:97)
This can be contrasted with silver and gold, which the Huron encountered less often, and which, when referred to on their own, were incorporated into verbs that added further description:
2.3 “Monnoye…d’argent/money…of silver /o8hista,enrat – dor/ of gold /o8histandoron”
(FHc 1697:123)
| Huron ,a8histae(1) ha8histondiak (2) ,a8histanneoai (3) ,a8histandie (4) ote8hista8ax8i (5) ,a8histari,i (6) | English to hit – whist- he makes -whist- to attach -whist- to rub -whist- bent -whist- to press -whist- |
Goldsmithing is given at least one reference. From the verb -ocka8i-, meaning ‘to paint, colour’ we get combinations such as “aha8histoka il a dore cela / he gilds that./” (Potier 1920:406 #15). The literal translation from the Huron would be ‘He colours it with -whist-.’.
The verb -whist- is incorporated into in the first case is -,enrat-, meaning ‘to be white’ (Potier 1920:247 #93), the whole term then meaning ‘white -whist-‘. Such a combination for silver also exists in Mohawk (Michelson 1973:58). In the second case the verb used is -ndoron-, meaning ‘to be valuable’ (Potier 1920:295). Again the combination also was used with reference to ‘gold’ in the related language of Mohawk (Michelson 1973:48).
As seen from the following entries, ‘valuable -whist-‘ was also a general reference to precious metals, and to money:
2.4 “o8histandoron or, argent, metail precieux/gold, silver, precious metal/”
(#59)
2.5 “Oo i8a d’ok8istandoron? Combien y a t’il argent?
Huron/ There is how much valuable whist-?/
French/How much money is there?/” (Potier 1920:161 #1)
3.0 Owhista Referring to Metal Working
There are numerous references in the Huron dictionaries to metal-working, almost exclusively to working with iron. The following are a representative sample:
| French forger, battre le fer forgeron ferrer fourbir du fer fer courbe etendre le fer | English to forge, beat iron blacksmith to iron, add iron to to polish iron curved iron to spread out, extend iron |
4.0 Owhista Referring to Metal Objects
While there are a number of metal objects referred to as -whist-, the main one is ‘bell’. Typical entries are like the following:
4.1 “cloche o8hista sonner ,a8histontati ,a8histoiannon / bell / to ring / clocher etio8histandiont / steeple/
(FHc 1697:37)
The verb in “,a8histontati” is “ontati”, which means ‘to move, swing’ (Potier 1920:423 #53). Incorporating -whist- we get ‘to swing -whist-, with the significance of ‘to ring’. Also signifying ‘to ring’, and composed of a verb meaning ‘to move’ is “,a8histoiannon”, which literally translates as ‘to move whist- many times’ (Potier 1920:432 #68). The term for ‘steeple’ incorporates whist- into the verb -ndiont-, meaning ‘to hang, swing’ (Potier 1920:307 #53). With the prefix -eti- we get the meaning ‘where one hangs or suspends -whist-‘ (see Potier 1920:26-27 for a discussion of this prefix).
And -whist- as a bell could be said to have a voice. This can be seen in the following example:
4.2 “a te 8a,ek asken sk8a8eti atsatrendaendeska d’o8histato,eti – venez je vous prie tous prier toutes les fois que la cloche sonnera.
Huron/I wish that all of you will pray every time the ‘straight -whist- talks./
French/Come, I ask of you, all pray every time the bell will ring./
(Potier 1920:242 #80)
The word “o8histato,eti” has -whist- incorporated into a verb that literally means ‘straight’ (Potier 1920:366-368), and came to be associated with the Christian notion of ‘holiness’, as can be seen in the following entries:
4.3 “doki daat hoatato,eti … spiritus sanctus
Huron/the spirit that is very ‘straight’/
French/holy spirit/”
(Potier 1920:242 *80)
4.4 “Endichato,ecti Autel
Huron/’straight’ platform/
French/Altar/”
(Steckley 1987:26; from FHc 1697:13)
Another example of -whist- having a ‘voice’ is the following:
4.5 “…ska8endarati etie8histontaOa – ils sonnent Ia cloche d’une seul cote … its tintent
Huron/It is one voice when they swing the -whist-./
French/They ring the bell on one side … they toll./
(Potier 1920:337 #23)
Another metal article often referred to with -whist- was a medal, as can be seen in the following entries:
4.6 “a,e8histaterendinnen j’avois oublie un medaille/I would have forgotten a medal./ (Potier 1920:187 #61)
4.7 “medaille o8histato,ecti o8hista,aon medaille antique/ medal/old /medal/
(FHc 1697:117)
In 4.6 we have the verb form “aterendi”, meaning simply ‘to forget’ (Potier 1920:187 #61). The term “o8histato,ecti” meaning as we have seen ‘straight -whist-‘ indicates that the medal must have been a holy one. It can be seen from this that context would have been important when using -whist-, as a number of metal objects could be designated by the term. Finally, with the second example in 4.7 we have the verb -,aon-, which means ‘to be old’ in the sense of being old and worn out (Potier 1920:235 #66).
5.0 Owhista Referring to Glass
The noun root -whist- was also used with reference to glass. This seems to have been only a limited use, however, confined in the dictionaries, at least, to a few references to ‘mirrors’ #59 and #65) and ‘windows’. The latter we see in an interesting passage – from the Huron writings of Jesuit Father Philippe Pierson, recorded in the 1670s.’
5.1 “,annonskon achiatatia desa, onta,annonchiarack8at de chie8enda; d’onn’achiak8endondat, aste onacti achie8ennon,ok,ta ti te stonchiaraxend a,arak8taha, te ,annonchiaharen o8hista etio8histarah8i, stante orak8aes d’o8hista, onta,arak8innion ak8atiaton,otak i0ochien n’ondechon; de t’a8erhon ata,atondechon,ontak, Stante oataechend etiondecha, chie,annen ondechatentsi.
When you speak in a house your voice penetrates through it. When you speak loudly your voice penetrates even though you do not. A sunray does not pierce the house when glass (o8hista) is inserted. The glass does not stop the sunray, even when the glass is not damaged. That is like a spirit entering the earth, wishing to penetrate the earth. It would not be stopped by the great thickness of the earth.” (Potier 1920:632)
FOOTNOTES
1-FHc 1697:79.
2-FHc 1697:79.
3-FHc 1697:75.
4-Potier 1920:290 #96.
5-Potier 1920:262 #21.
6-Potier 1920:347 #43.
REFERENCES CITEDFHO
c1655 French-Huron-Onondaga dictionary, ms
FHc 1697
c1697 French-Huron ms. Dictionary
Michelson, Gunther
1973 A Thousand Words of Mohawks. Ottawa, National Museum of Man.
Potier, Pierre
1920 The Fifteenth Report of the Bureau of Archives for the Province of Ontario 1918-1919. Toronto, Clarkson W. James.
Sagard, Gabriel
1866 Histoire du Canada…, Paris, Edwin Tross
Steckley, John L.
1987 “An Ethnolinguistic Look at the Huron Longhouse” in Ontario Archaeology #47, pp.19- 32