The principal chief of the Cherokee Nation wants Jeep to stop using the tribe’s name on its SUVs, saying it “does not honor us by having our name plastered on the side of a car.”
Jeep started using the Cherokee name more than 45 years ago, including on the brand’s top-selling Grand Cherokee SUV. It also offers a smaller SUV called the Cherokee, which was its third best-selling vehicle last year in the U.S.
“I think we’re in a day and age in this country where it’s time for both corporations and team sports to retire the use of Native American names, images and mascots from their products, team jerseys and sports in general,” Chuck Hoskin Jr., principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, said in a statement. “I’m sure this comes from a place that is well-intended, but it does not honor us by having our name plastered on the side of a car.”
Trouble is, the word Cherokee isn't native at all.
It's English.
The North American origins and eventual English language form of "Cherokee" were researched by James Mooney in the nineteenth century. In his Myths of the Cherokee (1888) he writes:
It first appears as Chalaque in the Portuguese narrative of De Soto's expedition, published originally in 1557, while we find Cheraqui in a French document of 1699, and "Cherokee" as an English form as early, at least, as 1708. The name has thus an authentic history of 360 years.
The origin of the name "Cherokee" may have been derived from the Choctaw word Cha-la-kee, which means "those who live in the mountains", or Choctaw Chi-luk-ik-bi, meaning "those who live in the cave country".
The earliest Spanish rendering of Cherokee, from 1755, is Tchalaquei.
Another theory is that "Cherokee" derives from a Lower Creek word, Cvlakke ("chuh-log-gee"), meaning someone who speaks another language. In the Lower dialect of ᏣᎳᎩ, which was traditionally spoken in what is now Georgia and South Carolina, the Cherokee called their language jaragi, as the Eastern or lower dialect had a rolling "r" sound in place of the "l" sound used in the other dialects. This pronunciation may have served as a basis for the current English language name for the people.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Cherokee_language
The tradition of naming helicopters after Native Americans was once an official regulation. That regulation no longer stands, but the tradition continues.
According to an unnamed Army museum official, the naming convention goes back to before the Air Force split from the Army in 1947 when Army Gen. Hamilton Howze was assigned to Army aviation. His mission was to develop doctrine and the way forward when it came to employing Army aircraft and how they would support warfighters on the ground.
According to the museum official, Howze wasn’t a fan of the names of the first two helicopters — Hoverfly and Dragonfly. So, he laid out instructions for naming the helicopters after their abilities.
Howze said since the choppers were fast and agile, they would attack enemy flanks and fade away, similar to the way the tribes on the Great Plains fought during the aforementioned American Indian Wars. He decided the next helicopter produced — the well-known H-13 of “M.A.S.H.” fame — would be called the Sioux in honor of the Native Americans who fought Army Soldiers in the Sioux Wars and defeated the 7th Calvary Regiment at the Battle of Little Bighorn.
That’s likely how Army Regulation 70-28 was created in 1969.
The regulation listed criteria on how popular names would be given to major items of equipment. Name choices had to:
Appeal to the imagination without sacrificing dignity.
Suggest an aggressive spirit and confidence in the item’s capabilities.
Reflect the item’s characteristics including mobility, agility, flexibility, firepower and endurance.
Be based on tactical application, not source or method of manufacture.
Be associated with the preceding qualities and criteria if a person’s name is proposed.
According to AR 70-28, Army aircraft were specifically categorized as requiring “Indian terms and names of American Indian tribes and chiefs.” Names to choose from were provided by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Tell him to go get a life. If Jeep gave him one he would probably go away happy. That is what whiners want anyway is something for nothing. Besides, Cherokee is an English word isn't it.
ReplyDeletethat's right! Quite the astute observation you made! Thank you! I'll add that to the post!
DeleteIt seems to me that native Americans whose names appear on things such as cars, trucks, military transportation and fire systems along with other things like teams in major leagues would be honored to see their names there.
ReplyDelete