Vol. 09 · Loanwords ·Indigenous languages ·1620s
Powwow
from powwaw
- Meaning
- A Native American social gathering; informally, any meeting.
- Source word
- powwaw
- Route into English
- Narragansett *powwaw* (a shaman or medicine man) → English specialised to the communal ceremony such a figure led → broadened informally to "any meeting," a colloquial use some Indigenous communities consider disrespectful.
- Arrived
- 1620s
From Indigenous languages
A loose group: Nahuatl, Taino, Algonquian, Guugu Yimithirr, and others. Colonial contact produced many loans; the speakers were often systematically dispossessed of the land the loanwords described.
English borrows.
Browse the full loanword atlas or explore another source language.