Etymology
Advertisement

Sacagawea

also Sacajawea, name of the Shoshoni woman who accompanied and aided the Lewis & Clark expedition.

She had been a captive among the Hidatsas (a Siouan people), and her Hidatsa name was tsaka'aka wi'a, lit. 'bird woman' (Hartley, 2002). Her Shoshoni name, rendered as Sacajawea and translated 'boat launcher,' may have been a folk-etymological transformation of the Hidatsa term (Shaul, 1972). [Bright]

Her image appeared on U.S. dollar coins from 2000.

updated on October 31, 2021

Advertisement
Advertisement