Date Published:
October 2004

L’Encyclopédie de l’histoire du Québec / The Quebec History Encyclopedia

Tsaganha

[This text was originally published in 1907 by the Bureau of American Ethnology as part of its Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico. It was later reproduced, in 1913, by the Geographic Board of Canada. The work done by the American Bureau was monumental, well informed and incorporated the most advanced scholarship available at the time. In many respects, the information is still useful today, although prudence should be exercised and the reader should consult some of the contemporary texts on the history and the anthropology of the North American Indians suggested in the bibliographic introduction to this section. The articles were not completely devoid of the paternalism and the prejudices prevalent at the time. While some of the terminology used would not pass the test of our "politically correct" era, most terms have been left unchanged by the editor. If a change in the original text has been effected it will be found between brackets [.] The original work contained long bibliographies that have not been reproduced for this web edition. For the full citation, see the end of the text.]

Tsaganha. An Iroquoian term, having here the phonetics of the Onondaga dialect, and freely rendered, 'One utters unintelligible speech,' and so approximately synonymous with 'alien', 'foreigner'. Its literal meaning is 'one rolls (or purls) one's mouth (speech).' This term was applied to the several Algonguian tribes dwelling E. and S. of the Iroquois in widely separated localities; the Hurons applied the name to the "Canadiens" of 1626, i. e. the Algonquians dwelling on the lower St. Lawrence. It was applied indiscrimitely to the Abnaki, Mohegan, Mahican, Delawares, Munsee, Stockbridges, Brothertons, and generally to all the New England and contiguous Algonquian tribes.

Source: James WHITE, ed., Handbook of Indians of Canada, Published as an Appendix to the Tenth Report of the Geographic Board of Canada, Ottawa, 1913, 632p., p. 483.