Indian languages
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Me-Zhair-Ess
Q: I am writing you because I was given the name
Me-Zhair-ess and it belonged to my ancestor Mitchell Bettese
who was Kickapoo/Potawatomi and no one knows what it
means or how it is said could you please help me.
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A: It does sound sort of Potawatomi to us.
However, there is no R or L in Potawatomi, so our Potawatomi speaker
isn't sure what the sound in the middle of the word could originally have been.
Our best guess is that perhaps it could have been a corruption of the word
Mshewes (pronounced muh-zheh-wess) which means "little elk." But this is only a guess--
it's impossible to be certain of a Native American name
only from an English misspelling of it.
Hope that helps a little, have a good day!
Native Languages of the Americas
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Potawatomi tribe
Male Indian names
Native American ancestors
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