Nadowe
/ˈnɑːdəweɪ/noun
A historical English borrowing from Ojibwe referring to a member of the Iroquois Confederacy or, more broadly, an Iroquoian person.
Did you know?Nadowe belongs to a family of Algonquian names for neighboring peoples, but its deeper Proto-Algonquian origin is uncertain rather than securely meaning “snake” or “enemy.”
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Algonquian
PA
*naːtawēwa
“A reconstructed ethnonym associated with an eastern neighboring people; the precise original sense is uncertain.”
Pre-contact period
Ojibwe
naadowe
“A term for an Iroquoian person, especially a member of the Iroquois peoples.”
17th Century
French
Nadouessiou / Nadouessioux
“French colonial forms for Indigenous peoples identified through Algonquian names; these forms later became associated especially with the Dakota.”
17th–18th Century
English
Nadowe
“An English rendering of the Ojibwe ethnonym for an Iroquois person or people.”
Modern English
English
Nadowe
“An obsolete or historical ethnonym, chiefly encountered in colonial, linguistic, and Indigenous-history sources.”
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