Wigwam and Wickiup
Wigwam and Wickiup denote two traditional dwellings of different North American Indian tribes whose names come from a linguistic root.
The wigwam was mainly used by Indians of the subarctic and northeastern cultural areas . The Wickiup, on the other hand, comes from the cultural areas Southeast , Great Basin and California .
Typical for both is the dome shape with a round but also rectangular base. The structure of the dwelling consisted of curved logs and was covered with materials such as grass mats.
Word origin
The word wigwam was borrowed from one of the Algonquin languages , probably for the first time around 1628, from the Eastern Abenaki wìkəwαm , into English and then into German .
In most Algonquian languages, the word for " house " is very similar:
- * wi · kiwa · ʔmi in the reconstructed original Algonquin
- wigwôm in West Abenaki
-
wiigiwaam in Anishinaabe , also contracted to wiigwaam
- wiigiwaam in Algonquin (in the narrower sense) can also be miigiwaam (with nX -prefix m- instead of n3 -prefix w- )
- ookóówa in Blackfoot (without possessive subject suffix -m )
- mâhëö'o in Cheyenne (with nX -prefix m- instead of n3 -prefix w- and without possessive topic suffix -m )
- wiikiaami in Miami-Illinois
- wikuom in the Mi'kmaq
- ȣichiȣam in Nipmuc
- wikëwam in Unami - Lenape
The Abenaki also called their dwellings Wetu , Witu , Wetoun or Wekuwomut, depending on the dialect . The terms mentioned in the Algonquin languages, which all mean apartment , house or dwelling , were converted by the whites into the name wigwam around 1660, which they immediately used to denote all the indigenous dwellings, regardless of whether they lived in a wigwam or not. In popular scientific literature, wigwam is sometimes even used for all mobile dwellings of the Indians, including the tipis .
The word wickiup also comes from the Algonquian languages and is probably a variant of wikiwam without the possessive subject suffix -m , but with the suffix ap (i) "sit"):
- wiikiyaapi in Fox (= "house")
- mekewāp in Cree (with nX -prefix m- instead of n3 -prefix w- )
- mīciwāhp in Montagnais (with nX -prefix m- instead of n3 -prefix w- )
- wikiop in the Menominee
- wekeab in Saki
In contrast to the aforementioned Algonquian-speaking ethnic groups, the name "Wickiup" was not used by the Indians of the southwest. The white Americans used them for their dwellings. B. was called "Gowah" by the Apaches or "Ba-ak" by the Karankawa .
Construction of the wigwams
Wigwams differ from the otherwise similar tipis mainly in that the vertical trunks are curved. They can also have a round as well as a rectangular base.
To build a wigwam, young hickory trunks or fresh elm trunks were cut down, the branches removed and then placed in a circle, usually 4.5 to 6 meters in diameter. Depending on the size of the wigwam, you needed between six and 18 of these up to five meter long poles. At the bottom they were secured by digging into the ground, from bottom to top they were gradually braced with cross bars. Finally, the tops of the poles were tied together to form a kind of frame. This frame was then covered with woven rushes , bark , animal skins, reed mats or grass mats . Bark (from birch or chestnut ) and animal skins were mainly used in winter, when tall grass was not available. The wigwam, like the tipi, could be heated inside with an open fire.
The woodland Indians around the Great Lakes and on the Atlantic coast, mostly Algonquin and Sioux, used the wigwam in particular . It was designed for a longer stay in the same place, but could also be dismantled without major losses in material and, thanks to the building material available everywhere, it could also be quickly rebuilt. In the case of tribes that changed their residential area depending on the season, the cover of the wigwam was removed, rolled up and taken on the hiking trains. The skeletal structure was left behind to be used again on return. The construction of the wigwam varied in size and detail for the different tribes. The largest structures were built by the Algonquin-speaking Kickapoo in the Great Lakes area, whose wigwams reached a floor area of 25 m² and heights of almost 3 meters. Depending on the size and use, a distinction was also made between the “small wigwam” (often used as a sweat lodge ) and the “large wigwam”.
Wickiup
The dome-shaped Wickiup (also Wickeyup ), a grass hut, was used by the Paiute , Apaches and the Yavapai and Walapai, who belong to the highland Yuma, in the mountains, deserts and semi-deserts of Arizona , New Mexico , Nevada and northern Mexico. The Wickiup could be set up within a few hours and dismantled even faster, which was important for the nomadic lifestyle of these tribes. For the warlike and predatory Apaches in particular, it was often important to be able to move their rancherias quickly to areas safe from enemies. The Wickiup was one of the simplest forms of living in North America, but the tribes, especially during the summer, often only used simple wind screens , so-called ramadas , on their hikes . To build the Wickiup, wattle were driven into the ground from the branches and stakes of oak and willow. The supports were about three hands apart and were tied together at the pole tips with ropes made of yucca fiber. Tufts of grass were then attached to this scaffolding, over which animal skins were placed and tied. Sometimes they were covered with woven mats of grass instead of animal skins. Childless married couples with the Apaches built a Wickiup almost 3 meters in diameter and 2 meters high, families a correspondingly larger one. Just like wigwam , the word wickiup, introduced by the Europeans, is derived from the eastern Algonquin languages . The actual names in the non-Algonquian languages of the peoples between California and Texas were completely different.
More grass huts
Grass huts were not only found in the dry southwest and northeast woodlands. Also in southern California ( Tipai , Chumash and Gabrielino ) different tribes built grass huts that were conical or looked like beehives. They had diameters of up to 6 meters and heights of 4.5 - 6 meters. The Chumash even had window openings, the door opening was closed with a tulip mat. The tribes also used tulip mats to divide the interior into individual areas.
The Caddo and Wichita on the Southern Plains also lived in grass huts, although they were significantly larger with a diameter of up to 12 meters. The huts were built on a circular floor plan and either had the shape of a dome or a pointed dome. One or two entrances led into the interior. In contrast to the other grass huts and the wigwams and wickiups, there was usually no smoke opening in the roof. The smoke had to escape through the grass cover.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Merriam-Webster Dictionary: wigwam
- ↑ Dictionary.com Unabridged: wigwam . Random House Inc.
- ↑ a b c d Article on Wickiup / Wigwam in the Encyclopædia Britannica
- ↑ a b Article in the MSN Encarta ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
