Sachem
/ˈsɑː.kəm/noun
A Native American chief or leader, especially among certain Algonquian-speaking peoples.
Did you know?English took *sachem* from a Lenape/Delaware word used for a chief, and early colonial records show Europeans borrowing it as a political title rather than inventing one of their own.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Algonquian
PA
*sə·kəmwa?
“Reconstructed ancestral form often linked to the idea of a chief or leader”
Lenape/Delaware
Lenape
sà·kəm
“A chief, sachem, or political leader”
17th Century
English
sachem
“A Native American chief or leader”
Modern English
English
sachem
“A Native American chief or leader, especially in historical or ceremonial contexts”