Dear Editor:

A long, long time ago I was sitting by a camp fire when somebody asked, “Where does the word Squaw come from?” An old man responded and went on to say his grandfather once spoke about a man named Silis T. Rand. Rand was a white man studying the Mi’kmaw language. One day he overheard a local Mi’kmaw man yell to his wife, “Pis kwa’ épit pis kwa’”. After that incident Rand went on to believe the word ‘Squaw’ meant ‘woman’.

The word ‘Pis kwa’’ translates ‘To enter’ and ‘Épit’ to ‘Woman’

Silis T. Rand wrote the Mi’kmaw dictionary, it was published in 1849.

This is to explain the misinterpretation of the word that came to be known as ‘squaw’.

In Friendship,
Ron Julien
Mi’kmaq Elder, NS

Image courtesy of Bill Longshaw at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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