Potawatomi
/ˌpɑːtəˈwɑːtəmi/noun
A Native American people of the Great Lakes region, and the Algonquian language they speak.
Did you know?Potawatomi is related to a broader Algonquian place-name pattern often analyzed as "people of the place of the fire," though the exact historical segmentation is debated by scholars.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Algonquian
PA
*potawe·təmən?
“Reconstructed ancestral form often connected by scholars to the idea of fire or a fire place, though details are uncertain.”
17th Century
French
Pouteouatami / Pouteouatamis
“Early French spellings recorded by explorers and missionaries for the people.”
17th-18th Century
English
Potawatomi
“English adoption of the tribal name from French and Indigenous sources.”
Modern English
English
Potawatomi
“The standard modern name for the people and their language.”