Tewa Ethnobotany-1

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SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION

B U R E A U O F A M E R I C A N E T H N O L O G YBULLETIN 55

ETHNOBOTANY OF THETEWA INDIANS

BY

W I L F R E D W I L L I A M ROBBINS

J O H N P E AB O D Y H AR R I N G TO N

B A R B A R A F R E I R E - M A R R E C O

WA S H I N G T O NG O V E R N M E N T P R I N T I N G O F F I C E

1916



LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

T HE S C H OO L OF A M E R I C A N ARCHAEOLOGY

S anta Fe, N . Mex, Novem ber 1, 1912.DEAR SIR: I herewith tr an smit th e m an uscript an d illust ra tionsof a paper ent itled “Ethnobotany of the Tewa Indians,” by WilfredW. Robbins, John P. Harrington, and Barbara Freire-Marreco. Iam a u th or ized by t he m an aging comm itt ee of th e School of AmericanArcheology to offer this work for publication by the Bureau of American Ethnology as a part of the results of the cooperative work of our respective institutions during 1910 and 1911.

I am, very truly, yours,E DGAR L. H E W E T T ,

Director.Mr. F. W. HODGE,

Ethnologist-in- Ch arge, B u reau of American Ethnology,

Washington, D. C.



LETTER OF SUBMITTAL

S MITHSONIAN I NSTITUTION ,B U R E A U O F A M E R I C A N E T H N O L O G Y ,

N o v e m b e r 8, 1912.S I R : I have the honor to submit a paper on the “Ethnobotany of

th e Tewa Indians,” by Wilfred W. Robbins, J ohn P. Harrington, andB a r b a r a Freire-Marreco, which forms a part of the results of theeth nological a nd a rcheologica l resea r ch in t he upper Rio Grande Val-ley of New Mexico, undertaken jointly by the Bureau of AmericanEthnology and the School of American Archaeology in 1910 and

1911. It is recommended that the paper be published as a bulletinof th is bur eau .Very respectfully,

F . W. H O D G E , Ethnologist-in-Charge.

Honorable C H A R L E S D . W A L C O T T ,Secretary, S m ith sonia n Insti tution.

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PHONETIC KEY

A gra ve accent over a vowel ind ica t es fa lling tone a nd weak st r ess.Thus, S at@, Athapascan, approximately rhymes with and has accentof Spa n . sabe. Wher e pr acticable for distinguish ing t wo words, vowel

length is indicat ed by th e macron. Thus ‘o&u, hill, but ‘G?@, tur t le .P H O N E T I C S P E L L I N G O F N O N - T E W A W O R D S

Vowels: d (French p a s), y (unrounded u ), & (French p a t te) , 4(French pa t te , bu t orinasal). The acute accent over a vowel indi-cat es loud str ess. Su rdness is ind ica ted by a cir cle benea th a vowel.

Consonants : ’ ( a s p i r a t i o n ) , q, d, 6 (a s i n E n g . ) , Z ( su rd Z), P(bilabial f) .

Orinasal

Oral

SemivowelsFricativesFr ica tives labializedClusivesClus ives labia lizedClusives glottalizedClusives a spirat edAffricativesAffricatives glottalized

Clus ives levisClusives preplosively nasalNasalsNa sa ls labia lized

Laryn-geals Velars Palatals F r on t a ls La bia ls

a0 e

z

-

iv



ETHNOBOTANY OF THE TEWA INDIAN

By WILF RE D W. ROBBINS, JOHN P. HARRINGTON, and BARBARAF R E I R E - M A R R E C O 1

INTRODUCTION

S COPE OF E T H N O B O TA N Y

ETHNOBOTANY is vir t ua lly a n ew field of r esea r ch , a field which ,

if investigat ed t h oroughly an d syst ema tica lly, will yield resu ltsof great value t o th e eth nologist a nd in cident ally a lso t o th e bota nist .Ethnobotany is a science, consequently scientific methods of studyan d investigat ion m ust be adopted and a dhered t o as st rictly as in a nyof the older divisions of scientific work. It is a comparatively easymatter for one to collect plants, to procure their names from theIndian s, th en t o send th e plan ts t o a bota nist for det ermina tion, an d

ult ima tely to form ulat e a list of plant s an d th eir a ccompa nying Indiannames, with some notes regarding their medicinal and other uses-Ethnobotanical investigation deserves to be taken more seriously: itshould yield more information than this; it should strike deeper intoth e th ough t s an d life of t he people stu died. If we ar e to lear n moreof primitive peoples, we must attempt to gain from them their con-ceptions not of a part but of the entire environment. Ethnobotanyis a special line of ethnologic invest iga t ion , th e resu lts of which m ust

receive considera tion in our ult ima te an alysis.Et hn obota nical r esearch is concern ed with severa l importa nt ques-

tions: (a) What are primitive ideas and conceptions of plant life?(b) What are the effects of a given plant environment on the lives,customs, religion, thoughts, and everyday practical affairs of the

1 The earlier, larger, and more systematic part of this memoir is the work of the two authors firstnamed on the title-page, Mr. Wilfred W. Robbins and Mr. John P. Harrington. Their methods ofinvestigation and collaboration are explained in the Introduction.

When the memoir, in its original scope and form, was in type, it was thought advisable to enlarge i tb y including notes on some of the economic, industrial, and medicinal uses of the plants, made by thethird author, Miss Barbara Freire-Marreco, in the course of work supported by the Research Fellowshipfund of Somerville College, Oxford, England, and by the late Miss Mary Ewart’s trustees, as well asmany additional plant-names. It was thought well also to add, for the sake of comparison, informationgained from the Tewa colony settled since the end of the seventeenth century among the Hopi at Hano,Arizona, although the winter season had made it difficult to learn much of the plant environment. Mr .Harrington is not responsible for the form of the Tewa words recorded at Hano, nor Mr. Robbins for thetentative identifications of the plants obtained or described there; Mr. Harrington and Mr. Robbins arealone responsible for the views expressed in pages 1 to 75; and Miss Freire-Marreco for those containedin pages 76 to 118.

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pe ople stu died ? (c) What use do th ey ma ke of th e plan ts a bout th emfor food, for medicine, for material culture, for ceremonial purposes ?(d) What is the extent of their knowledge of the parts, functions,an d activities of plan ts ? (e) In to wha t cat egor ies a re plant n am esan d words t ha t dea l with plan ts gr ouped in t he lan guage of th e peoplest udied, an d wha t can be lear ned concern ing the wor king of th e folk-

mind by the study of these names?Ethnobotany will become a more important subject when its studyha s pr ogressed t o a point where r esults can be stu died compa ra tively.The et hn obot a ny of one t r ibe should be com pa r ed wit h sim ilar st u diesof other t r ibes . And in such comparat ive work there ar ises th e neces-sity for a sta nda rd in th e quality of an d in t he m an ner of condu ctingth e several investigat ions. Conceptions of plan t life differ am ongdifferent peoples: a par ticular plan t her e does not r eact in t he sa me

way upon one people as it does upon a noth er; it h as a differen t n am eand probably a different usage; while different ideas are held con-cerning it. Furthermore, we encounter different vegetal environ-ments as we pass from tr ibe to t r ibe. Attempt should ult imately bema de to investigat e th e cau ses an d exten t of th ese var iations.

E T H N O B O T A N I C A L F I E L D W O R K

The method of conducting ethnobotanical researches is of consider-able importance, and the value of results obtained may be judged ingreat measure by the methods pursued in obtainingthem. A pr imenecessity is a good n at ive infor ma nt ; indeed it is bett er t o ha ve severa linfor ma nt s, prefera bly older m en or wom en. The r easons for select-ing the older persons as informants are obvious: they have greaterknowledge concerning aboriginal things than have younger persons;th ey are less inclined to regar d t he work lightly and to at tem pt to give

wrong a nd misleading answers;

th ey are st eadier, and above all th eyar e able to give, as a resu lt of th eir m at ur er years a nd great er experience,more trustworthy information. The writers found a distinct advan-tage in taking with them into the field several old Indians: time wassaved; questions were answered more readily; furthermore, theyfrequently discussed the point in question among themselves, thusarriving at conclusions and bringing out facts that one individualcould not. It is also true that several Indians together usually feel

less restraint in answering freely such questions as are asked thanwould one in th e pr esence of on e or m ore qu estion ers. As a m ean s of checking the accuracy of information obtained it is also well to work with differen t individua ls or groups of individua ls separ at ely, an d t ocompa re t he resu lts. Questions a sked should not su ggest t he a nswers.Quest ionin g should be system at ic, yet so con ducted a s n ot to wear y oroffend t he in form an ts. It is well to intersperse the questioning with

jokes an d light con versa tion. The Indian lan gua ge should be used as

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lar gely as possible in a sking th e questions a nd in recording t he in form a-tion. The reasons for this are that the Indian words are largely notsusceptible of exact translation, and the use of a foreign language isapt to modify an d r ender un -Ind ian th e conceptions of th e inform an ts.

In t he pr esent work th e writer s took with t hem into th e field thr eeold Indians, one of whom could speak fairly good English. The

services of this individual were of considerable value; it is verydesira ble th at th e services of such an informa nt be enlist ed if possible.Although not absolutely essential, it is probably true that the bestethnobotanical work can be done by the close cooperation of abota nist with an eth nologist an d linguist experienced in t he m eth odsof recording Indian languages, the scientific recording of which is byno means an easy task . With the ir informant s the two should gointo the field together. It is essential that investigation be done in

the field with growing plant l ife; showing fragments of plantspicked up here and there, or even herbarium specimens, to theinformants is far less satisfactory. The botanist will relieve hisco-worker of collecting and preserving the plant material; the lattercan thus better concentrate his efforts on obtaining the ethnologicinformation. Furthermore, i t is natural that questions of botanicalin te res t will occu r t o th e bot an ist t h a t would not occur t o th e lingu ist.Once in the field, the Indians are shown growing plants and arequestioned fully about each, the smaller as well as the larger andmore conspicuous forms. The nature of the questions will dependsomewhat on the plant . In the present work the quest ions wereframed so as to elicit the following facts about each plant: Indianname; etymology of name; uses of various parts, and methods of preparing them for use; names of the parts of plants, even the mostinconspicuous ; descriptive terms applied to this or that shape of

leaf, kind of bark, stem, etc., and the extension of these terms indescribing non-botanical phenomena; native ideas of the relation of the use of the different structures to the plant itself; and the loreconnected with the plant.

notes should be made complete inon one’s m emory a nd at tem pt tor ea ch in g ca m p. I t is well not t oinformants should be given abun-

l , 1

It is needless to say that fieldthe field; it is unsafe to dependrecord certain information afterhasten from plant to plant: the

dan t t ime to th ink over a nd discuss pomt s am ong th emselves.It is often of advantage to photograph some of the more striking

and important plants, showing their habitat and general appear-ance. Drawings of plants may be used to supplement photographs.In addition, native representations of plants can often be obtained,notably in the form of designs of pottery, basketry, from pe t ro -glyphs , e t c. An a t t empt shou ld be ma de to iden t ify th ese , a sthey are important in indicating the Indian conception of variousplants.

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C OLLECTION AND P REPARATION OF B OTANICAL S P E C I M E N S

In any case, even if the plant be well known, specimens shouldbe collected. These, prepared in th e mann er to be discussed, makevalua ble specimen s for th e eth n ological mu seum . In view of t hefact that many individuals doing ethnobotanical work may not befamiliar with the proper methods of pressing and handling plants,the following suggestions are made rather explicit and detailed.Th e necessity for this is suggested by the experience of the writers,who h ave kn own su ch collect ions t o consist of a few d r ied, sh r iveled,an d undet erm inable fra gment s of plant s.

A port a ble plan t-press is r ecomm ended for use in collectin g. Thecollector will supply himself with sheets of thin, cheap paper (news-

papers will serve the purpose), cut to the size of the press; these areused to separate the specimens as collected. The specimen s shouldbe lar ge, including, if possible, un dergr ou nd pa rt s, flowers, a n d fruit .As collected t he specimen s ar e temporar ily placed between t he sheetsof paper in th e plant -press . Special dr iers made for pressing plant sar e highly desira ble ; th ese a re of soft , felt-like m at eria l an d a re verydurable; two hundred will be sufficient for collections of ordinarysize. The material collected should either be numbered (the num-

bers referring to data in the field book) or the related data should bein clu d ed wit h e a ch s p ecim e n . I n a d d it i on t o t h e i n for m a t ionobta ined from t he In dians, each plant should bear th e following da ta :locality collected, date collected, name of collector. The specimensbrought from t he field ar e immedia t ely pu t in to driers; if n ot pr essedwhile fr esh the plan ts will lose t heir color an d will mold. Ea ch plant isplaced between two sheets of paper and two or more driers. Thestack of plants, papers, and driers is weighted down with a heavystone, and all is kept in a dry place. Driers should be changed atleast on ce ever y 24 hours; the wet driers are placed in a sunny placeto dry; plants should dry within four or five days.

Whenever possible, information about plants should be obtainedfrom th e Indian from th e growing plan t, as h e is th us a ccust omed t osee and know it or to gather it for use. It is sometimes importantth at th e plan t be exam ined by the inform an t in i ts n at ur al environ-

ment, since it has been learned by experience that plants removedfrom t he places in wh ich th ey grew t end t o confuse th e inform an t-andare identified by him only with considerable difficulty and uncer-tainty.

Probably the best way to exhibit ethnobotanical specimens in themu seum is in such m oun ts as th e “Riker specimen mount s,” bywhich the material may be displayed in an attractive, instructive,and permanent form. These mounts, made in various sizes, are

provided with glass covers; the specimens are arranged on a back-4



groun d of r aw cott on an d h eld in place by pressu r e of th e glas s front .They are particularly useful in that they admit of grouping, undera glass cover in one frame, specimens that are to be associated inthe mind of the observer. In each mount should be placed theplant specimen, with portions of products, if any, made from it, andall other material of ethnological interest. This method of exhib-

iting ethnobotanical specimens is recommended as being the mostat tr active an d instru ctive, at th e same t ime elimina ting th e danger of destruction of the exhibited material.

Another method of exhibit ing ethnobotanical specimens is tomount them on heavy paper; such paper is specially prepared forthe purpose. Each specimen is fastened to a sheet of the mountingpaper by narrow strips of gummed paper; gummed Chinese linenpaper may be obtained in sheets or in strips cut in varying lengths

and widths . A label bear ing the da ta des ired is then pas ted a t onecor ner of th e sh eet, when th e specimen is rea dy for exhibition. Th econtent of the label is a mat ter of some consequence. I t shouldinclude the scientific name of the plant, the common name, theIndian name with etymology, the locality and the date collected, thename of the collector, and brief mention of special points of interestconn ected with it.

The ethnologist who is collecting his own material should takepains to collect large specimens with all the parts present if possiblein order th at th e bota nist t o whom t hey ar e sent m ay rea dily ident ifythem. The wri te rs ha ve kn own insta nces in which plan ts su bmitt edfor classification could not be identified because of insufficient mate-r ial, or because, if n a m e d the designations were followed by questionmarks. Although primarily an ethnological subject , ethnobotanydoes not exclude the necessity for accuracy as regards the botanicalpar t of th e work .

P R E V I O U S E T H N O B O TA N I C A L S T U D I E S

Ethnobotany ha s r eceived a tt ent ion from a nu m ber of eth nologists;and valuable d a t a have been accumulated. I t is desirable thatthis material be assembled, so that the present state of ethnobot-any may be better ascertained; an d fur th ermore, th at problems an dmethods of research may be outlined and work in this field be con-

ducted systema tically an d with a definite pu rpose in view.Harshberger l in a paper published in 1 8 9 0 discussed the purposesof ethnobotany and pointed out the importance of the subject ingeneral. He made the interesting suggestion that ethnobotanicalgardens, in which should be grown only aboriginal plants, be estab-l ished in connect ion with museums. Havard 2 has wri t ten two

1 Harshberger, J. W., Purposes of Ethno-botany, Botan. Gazette, XXI, pp. 146-54,1896.2 Havard, V., The Food Plants of the North American Indians, Bull. Torrey Botan . Club, XXII, no. 3,

pp. 93-123, 1895. Drink Plants of the North American Indians, ibid., XXIII, no. 2, pp. 33-46, 1896.

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articles giving valuable accounts of the most important food anddrink plan ts of th e Nort h Amer ican Indian s. Barrows l ha s discussedthe ethnobotany of the Coahuilla Indians of southern California,including much information on the general ethnology of the tribe. .

Chamberlin 2 gives lists of th e plan t na mes of th e Ut e an d t he Gosiut e

Indians, including in many instances etymology and uses to whichth e plant s were put . Plan ts kn own to ha ve been u tilized by th eLuiseños of sout h ern Californ ia a re listed by Sparkman, 3 with th eirLuiseño, bota nical, an d En glish n am es.

Att ent ion is dra wn a lso to th e paper s by Powers, 4 Coville, 5 Fewkes, 6

Hough, 7 Matthews, 8 Stevenson, 9 and others.

1 Barr ows, David Pr escott , The Ethno-botany of th e Coah uiila Indian s of Sout hern Californ ia, pp. 1-82,Chicago, 1900.

2 Chamberlin, Ralph V., Some P lant Nam es of the Ut e Indians, Amer. Anthr., n. s ., XI, no. 1, 1909. Et h-nobotany of the Gosiut e Indian s, M em o irs A m er. A n t hr. A s so c ., II, pt . 5, pp. 331405, 1911.

3 Spark man , Philip Stedma n, The Cultur e of the Luiseño Indians, Univ. Calif. Pub., Amer. Archeol.and Ethn., VIII, pp. 187-234, 1908.

4 Powers, Stephen , Aborigina l Bota ny, Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., v , pp. 373-379, 1873-75.5 Coville, F. V.,Pla nt s Us ed by th e Klama th India ns of Oregon, Contr. U. S. N a t . Herb., V, pp. 87-108,

1897.6 Fewkes, J . Walter, A Contribution to Ethnobotany, Amer. Anthr., I X , no. 1, pp. 14-21,1896.7 Hough, Walter, The Hopi in Relat ion t o their Plan t E nvironment , ibid., X, no 2, pp. 33-44, l897.8 Mat thews, Washington, Na vajo Nam es for Plan ts, Amer. Nat., XX, pp . 767-77,1886.9 Stevenson, Matilda Coxe, Ethnobotany of the Zuñi Indians, Thirtieth Ann. Rep., Bureau of American

Ethnology,pp. 31-102, 1915.

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T E WA C O N C E P T S O F P L AN T L I F E

F UNCTIONS OF P LANT P ARTS

We speak of the functions of certain plant parts; for example, wesay the leaf makes food for the plant, the bark has a protectivefun ct ion , th e colored peta ls of a flower a t t r act in sect s. What are theIn dian s’ ideas of th e fun ctions of the par ts of plan ts ? It seem sthat the majority of their ideas arise directly from their observationof life phenomena; they do not arise as the result of thought anddeliberation; there is little evidence of philosophizing or of inquiryinto the reasons for the existence of things and conditions. Theysay that the leaves make the plant grow; when the leaves fall off theplan t stops growing. The tree in th e wint er condition is not con-sidered to be dead; they say it does not grow then because it has noleaves; the tree stays just the way it is in the fall until leaves comeagain. This idea arises purely from their observation of seasonalvegetat ive events; th ey ha ve not thought out nor wondered how

and why it is that the leaves cause resumption of growth. Theleaves fall from th e tree becau se th ey get r ipe like fru it . If you ask th em wh y a cott onwood sh eds its leaves a nd a pine tr ee does not, th eyhave no answer. They observe the fact , but so far as could beascer ta ined they have not th ought a bout t he reason th erefor. Wefind no folklore connected with the great majority of phenomenarelat ing to plan t life. The roots of a tree are the parts upon whichth e plant sits. The word for r oot , p u , is the same as th at for haunches,butt ocks; base, bott om, or foot of inan imat e objects. They ha ve notobserved that roots take up water, but they say the “roots h a ve t oget wet or the plant dies.” The bark is considered to be a protectionto th e t r ee; th e word for bar k, also for skin, is jYow&; th e bar k is theskin of the t ree. Spines , thorns, pr ickles are not t hought to havean y protect ive fu nction . The Tewa appea r t o ha ve a very vague ideaof sex in plan ts. To corn pollen, which is used so mu ch by them inth eir religious cerem onies a nd which is pr oduced by th e plan t in su chgreat abundance, was ascribed no use; the informants had not ob-served that it falls on the corn silk and that its presence there isnecessar y for t he development of th e ear of corn . It is merely some-thing finely divided and yellow, and holy when used in certain ways.A Tewa once made the statement, however, that one can not get afield of purely white corn because the wind always mixes the colors(see p . 84), but h is idea was perha ps vague. The litt le plan t is th ought

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to be within the seed; the informant said “ t h e plant is in t h e seed,but you can not see it.” They say th at when you put th e seed int o th egrou nd an d pour wat er on it, an d it “gets a good sh ock,” it grows u p.“Bees go to the flowers to get honey; after a while they get theiryoung from [by the help of] the flower.”

C LASSIFICATION OF P L A N T S

Although t he Tewa distinguish plan ts from a nima ls and again fromminerals, and also recognize more or less consciously such classes astrees, shrubs, small flowering plants, vines, grasses, fungi, mosses,etc., much as Europeans do, the classificatory words in the Tewalangua ge ar e very few as compa red with a langua ge such as En glish.

Ther e is not even a wor d m ean ing ‘plan t’ un less it be $ e , whichsignifies primarily a ‘ s t i ff long object,’ and is variously applied tostick, pole, stake, stalk, trunk, timber, log, stave, staff, plank, board,lum ber, wood, plan t. Yet th e morph ology of th e lan gua ge showshow consistently plants are recognized as not being animals or min-erals. All nouns denoting plants and most nouns denoting parts of plants have vegetal gender, 1 a fact shown by a peculiar form of adjectives and verbs construed with such nouns. T h u s p’e fh?ig,‘red stick’ (p’e, stick; fii, red), has vegetal gender: sing. p’e @‘ig,d u a l p ’e fG’i9, 3 + plu. pte jX ’P ; &se &?P, ‘red dog’ (i%e, dog; pi,r ed ) , has an ima l gender : s ing . 6ae @W , dual ti$e fii’ig, 3+ plu. t gef l?& i$U @Vi,sing. i&u @W ,

‘r ed st one’ (&u, stone; @i, red), has mineral gender:d u a l I&U “?ig, 3+ plu. &U @Vi.

‘A&I, ‘field’, ‘open coun t r y’, pr epoun ded to the na mes of pla n t sin som e cases distin guishes th e wild from t he cultivat ed variety; th us:

‘aixyh,‘

wild onion’ (‘akg, ‘field’ ; G 7 ‘onion’). P lan ts a re distin-guished also as mount ain plant s, valley plan ts, good plan ts, bad plan ts,etc. Edible wild plan ts ar e sorn etimes grouped a s &$~w&‘~, ‘greenthings’ ( t i&qwq blue, green).

Ther e is n o genera l word m ean ing ‘t ree’ un less it be pte, ‘stiff long object,’ ‘stick,’ ‘lumber,’ ‘plant,’ referred to above. English‘ t r ee’ or Spa n ish arbol is som etimes r ender ed by t e , Popu lus w islizen i,9~99, Pinus brachyptera, or som e ot her na m e o f a lar ge ‘tr ee’species ; cf. & , ‘ fruit tree,’ below.

Ther e is no word m ean ing ‘ shrub ’ or ‘ bush ’ un less it be this sam ewor dp ’e. The diminu tive post poun d ‘e ma y be added to a t ree nam eto show that the plant is dwarfed or young. Thus: h q, Jun iperusmonosperma, iL$e, dwarfed or young p l a n t , bush , shr ub of Juniperus

1 P &, ‘mountain,’ and some

this gender.

other nouns which do not denote plants or parts of plants also have

monosperma,

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Be, mea ning origina lly ‘ r oun dish fruit ,’ as th at of th e chokecher ryor wild rose, has become applied to all kinds of introduced fruits andalso to the plants which bear them. Thus ZUmeans fruit tree, asapple, peach, plum, or orange tree. Fruit tree may also be called$ep? @e, roundish fruit, fruit, fruit tree; $ e stick, plant).

70, meaning originally piñon nut, i. e. nut of the 28, ‘piEon tree,’has become extended in application to all kinds of nuts except coco-nuts. Nut tree might be called Zop’e (20, piñon nut , nut ; p k , stick,plan t), but th ere would r ar ely be occas ion to use so gener al a nd inclusive a ter m.

Peyfi~r%, ‘rubbish,’ ‘litter,’ ‘lint,’ ‘weed,’ ‘herbaceous plant,’ isvery comm on, its applicat ion not being r estr icted to useless plan ts. Itis the n ear est equivalent of Span ish yerba. Cf. French chenil le whichorigina lly m ean t only ‘ rubbish ’ an d now usua lly mean s ‘ caterpillar ‘.

_Z?o%, ‘ flower,’ like the English word ‘flower,’ in the case of smallerplants of which the flowers are a conspicuous part often loosely de-notes the entire plant. Sever al of th e Tewa sp ecific plan t n am es con -tain ~ 0% with th e m ean ing ‘flower pla n t ’.

Ther e is no word m ean ing ‘vegeta ble’ in t he sense of Germ anGemcse.

‘Apg, ‘ vine’, exactly covers the mean ings of the English ‘ vine’.

T a ‘grass,’ ‘hay’.

5!%is said to signify almost any kind of fungus.

_AYow&, ‘ tegument ‘, ‘ skin ‘, i s applied t o a n y skinlike vegetalgrowth , as m an y kinds of moss an d lichen .

D ISCRIMINATION

Sm all differen ces in plan ts ar e observed by th e Tewa. I t is remark-able how closely distinctions are made by them. For insta nce, th eyhave a name for every one of the coniferous trees of the region; inth ese cas es differen ces a re n ot cons picu ou s. The or dina r y individu alamong the whites does not distinguish the various coniferous trees,but, as a rule, calls them all pines. It is clear th at th e ma jority of white people ar e less observan t a n d in ma ny cas es kn ow far less abou tplan t life th an does the Indian , who is for ced to acquir e kn owledge inthis field by reason of his more direct dependence on plants.

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PLANT NAMES OF TH E TEWA

C HARACTER OF P LANT N A M E S

A majority of the Tewa names of plants are descriptive, havingreference to some striking characteristic of the plant, to its use, itsha bita t, etc. The sa me is t ru e to a grea t exten t of comm on En glishnames of plants; for instance, ground ivy, monkey flower, pine drops,cra ne’s bill, m onkshood, jack-in -th e-pu lpit, et c. J ust a s among Eng-lish comm on n a mes of plan t s we find some th e rea son for t h e origin a lapplica tion of which is not u n der stood, so we find s imilar cases a mongth e Indians. Why do we ca ll a cert a in t r ee dogwood ? An d wh y do

the Tewa call a certain plant ‘coyote plan t ’? As a r esu lt of t he de-script ive cha r acter of plan t n am es by fa r t h e la rger pr oport ion of t hemare compound. Following is a list of such names.

N O N - COMPOUNDED T EWA P LANT N A M E S

It will be seen from the following list that the plants which havenon-compounded and distinctive names are the most common, con-spicuous, and widely used ones of the region. The etymology of

th ese words is un kn own to the Tewa, th e words being merely ph oneticsvmbols employed to designate the various plants. There are com-paratively few of these unetymologizable names. Many oth er plantna mes a re form ed by compoun ding th em.

UNETYMOLOGIZABLE P LANT N AMES OF N ATIVE O R I G I N

2lB2, chokecherry’ Awa, cattail‘A w i, Galium, bedstraw_H& one-seeded jun iper&Xv, willow&, chandelier cactus-i!i?.$aje, S p a n . yerba de víboraE w zg , oa k X&g, skunk-bush

_KYCa, roseK $ g , cornIV&a&aspen&Y~v, rock pin e (pl 1)' OcJa, globe mallow.P O , squash, pum pkinPO, Phragmites, “ carrizo ”Pqhg, four-o’clock

P’a, Yucca baccata), S p a n .” datil "

p t g , large ra bbit-bru shQ w q , moun ta in mah ogan yQw&, guacoS a , tobaccoSagobe , pota to-like plan tSq, OpuntiaSeK@g, cottonS$ onionSU,a m a r a n t h

T a, grass2’2, valley cottonwood2’2, fungusT u , bean!?o, Rocky Mountain sage!&, piñon pin e (pl. 1)!Z%e,Douglas spruceT J v q , alder

Wijoka, ragweed

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It appears that about thirty Spanish plant names of etymology un-known to the Tewa and for which there are no common Tewa equiva-lents h ave been t aken int o th e everyday lan gua ge, an d ar e used pre-cisely as ar e th e th irty-six na tive plan t na mes listed a bove. In addi-

tion t o th ese ther e ar e ma ny oth er Spa nish designa tions of plant s withwhich th e Tewa ar e fam iliar.

PLANT NAMES OF SPANISH ORIGIN THAT HAVE NO COMMON EQUIV-ALE NTS OF TEWA ORIGIN

7A~vM&?z,almendra , almond JL~B&,m a lva, m a llow‘AZp’aZpt&alfalfa _&!&&,m or a , m ulberr y, black-

’ AfG’~, añil, sunflower berry7A p i & , apio, celery illida& mostaza, mustardAspmagh, esparrago, aspar- _Xia!yh&,na ra nja, ora nge

agus ‘Qg@, bongo, mushroomB a n a d , banana , banana P&C&, pera, pear@m en & melón, melon _Pofi$g,poñil, Fallugia&A%, berro, cress‘&&, higo, fig

_ZGik&wat i2 ,cacah ua te, pean ut_K&%%, caña, caneKa$e, cafe, coffeeK o k d , coco, coconutAZ& col, cabbage_Z& f UQ&,lechuga, lett uce_GnQq, limón, lemon

S a n & & , sandía, watermelonSe&G, “ celerí,” celery

S & e & , cereza, cherry5’2, te, teaTbmat~ , tomate, tomato2%&, chicoZ $ n & chile, pepper’ l&S, hu le , rubber

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PARTS AND PROPERTIES OF PLANTS

Tewa names designating parts of plants do not correspond closelywith th ose used in En glish. A par t wh ich m ay be designa ted in E ng-lish by a single term is frequently called by various terms in Tewaaccording to th e species. Thu s: En g. ‘bar k’, Tewa JZow&, said of most trees, but ~ w & $ said of the one-seeded juniper; Eng. ‘stalk,’Tewa p te , said of many plants, but J+$g, ‘corn stalk.’ Again, t heopposite is fr equen tly tr ue. Thu s Tewa ka is app lied to leaves, peta ls

of flowers, and needles of coniferous trees.Another interesting feature is the extension of application of a

word or igin a lly u sed t o den ot e one concept ion only, t o include r elat edconceptions. Thu s th e Tewa called th e piñon t ree 26,while $0 is usedfor the piñon nut, the seed of the piñon t r ee , and original etymologi-cal connection between $8 a nd 20 seems certain after an examinationof cognat e words in other Tanoan languages. The Tewa of th epresent day, however, apply 20 also to the seeds of some other conif-erous trees, thus: ~~~r&o, ‘seed of the rock pine’ (cJw~~, rock pine;20, piñon nut, nut), and even to any kind of introduced nut, peanuts,the kind of introduced nuts with which the Tewa are most familiar,being regularly called &.

It is comm on ly su pposed th at th e voca bula ries of In dian lan gua gesar e meager a nd t ha t t o tr an slate scient ific work s into th em would bealmost impossible . Quite th e opposite is t rue, a t least as r egards

Tewa, the vocabulary of which is rich and capable of expressingabstra ct t hought. Indeed, it would be possible to tr an slate a tr eat iseon botany into Tewa, although the translation would be somewhatclumsy.

F L O W E R S , THEIR P ARTS AND F U N C T I O N S

Pot2, ‘ flower ’, ‘ flower ing pla n t . ’ Th is word app lies to a ny flowers.The na me of th e species is often prepoun ded, th us: kta’apoE, ‘ wild

rose flower’ (k’da, wild rose ; PO?%, flower). J?o% i s e v i d e n t l ycognate with the second syllable of Isleta m p u ~ , ‘flower,’ etc.

The winged fru it of z$e&, ‘box-elder’ (see fig. I), is a lso ca lled PO!%.The r elat ion of th e wing t o th e seed is similar to th at of th e peta ls tothe seed of a flower. The true flower of the box-elder is also calledpot%

Poti% is very comm only used mea n ing ‘flowerin g plan t ,’ a s E n glish‘ flower.’ (Compare Tennyson’s “ Flower in t he cra nn ied wall.”)

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ROOT

Pu, ‘ base ,’ ‘bu t t ock s,’ ‘st em ,’ ‘ r oot .’ Th u s: k’~m,pu, ‘corn root’(%q~, corn plant; P U , root ). Root let is ca lled pz?e, ‘little root’(pa, root; ‘e, diminutive).

LE AF -S H E AT H

_Zi7$$&w&, ‘ leaf-sheath of corn’ (k’~?q, cornstalk; ~‘ow&, tegument ,skin, bar k).

Y7apce~cow~, ‘ leaf -sheath of a stalk of grass’ (ta, grass; $ e , sta lk;Kow&, tegum ent , skin,. bar k)._ K b W & , ‘ tegument,’ either alone or postpounded, would un-

doubt edly be th e ter m a pplied to a ny lea f-sh eat h.WOOD, PITH

Pee, ‘st ick,’ ’ st a lk ,’ ‘ st em ,’ ‘ pole,’ ‘ t r unk,’ ‘ log,’ ’ lu m ber ,’ ‘ wood,’‘ plant.’ Z”e is u sed of wood a s palo and m ad era ar e used in Span -ish, but Spanish Z &a in the sense of ‘firewood’ is translated q,,Pee is n ever u sed m ean ing ‘firewood.’ (Hodge gives as “Fire-wood or Timber” clan, San J uan and Santa Clara P%td6a , SanIldef onso Pe tdba , Hano P2- tbwa (Zowi i ,people). 1 The r enderin g of

pee in these clan na mes as “ firewood ” is incorrect according toth e writers’ Ind ian inform an ts.)is common as the first element of compounds, where it must berendered by ‘ wood’ or ‘ wooden’ in English . Thus : p’ek u tsan &,‘ wooden spoon’ (pee, stick, wood; k u t g a n & , spoon <Spanishcuchara).

Green wood is called pee ‘otf u’ig (pee, stick, wood; 7otj’u,fresh, green, wet); dry or seasoned w o o d is called pee Za’ig (pte7stick, wood; ZG, dry).

‘firewood.’ This usu ally consist s of dead, fallen, or dr iftedwood, picked u p or t or n off; but the sa m e word is ap plied to t r eesfelled for firewood. See pee.

A Tewa of Sant a Clara told th e following story: Long ago people

had no fire and were trying to find it-who knows how they cooked!Perh aps th ey at e berr ies. They ma de four holes in a row in a slab of vwqv and then they twirled a stick in the holes and out of one of theholes came fir e.

A few billets of firewood, carried bv means of a cord on a man’sshoulder and thrown down beside a woman’s door, is considered an

1F. W. Hodge, Pu eblo Indian Clans, Amer. Anthr. , IX, p. 350, Oct., 1896.

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appr opriate present. When a woman is about to be confined, herhus ban d’s fa ther oft en br ings her firewood.Pope , ‘dr iftwood.’ This is gat hered and used as firewood. Consid-

erable quantities of driftwood are to be found along the RioGrande.

Zl&$I, ‘ pith, ’ ‘core’ of fruit. See page 18. This word is the adject ive&7& ‘soft,’ used as a noun. It refers to the soft, light, spongytissue foun d in t he st ems of some plan ts. Thus: k ’$ g t & , ‘pithof the cornstalk’ (iC$~, cornstalk; t&, pith).

F I B E R

q ~6, ‘ fiber.’ Thus: p’aqw i, ‘ yucca fiber’ ($a, Yucca baccata; TQ$,fiber). We possibly have this word also in ‘aqwi, ‘Tendril,’ and

~ W 2 3 2 , ‘ sh reddy ba rk.’ See pa ge 21.P&i, ‘ st r ing. ’ This wor d u su a lly applies t o fiber a lrea dy made int o

string, but might be said of any kind of fiber.

J U I C E

Po, ‘ water ,’ ‘juice.’ Th is word covers a ll th e meanings of English‘water,’ ‘ ju ice.’ Th u s: k tqj@o, ‘juice of a cornstalk’ (kt$p,

cornstalk; $30,water); tejjo, ‘sap of a valley cottonwood tree’ (te,Populus wislizeni; $30,wat er, ju ice).7 fiAPO 7 ‘sweet juice,’ ‘ syrup’ (‘a, sweetness; $0, water).

_iMeZa& ‘sweet juice,’ ‘ syrup’ ( < Spanish melaza).

G UM

Kwq, ‘gum.’ The gum of various plants was chewed. Gum was

also much used for s t ick ing things together. Thus : gv.mggkwq+‘gum or pit ch of the r ock p ine 7 (gwzg~, roclx pine; kwg, gum).Chewing-gum is ca lled merely kw%.

B AR K

_i!i?o~~?,+‘t egum ent ,’ ‘sk in,’ ‘ba r k.’ Th is is the commonest and mostinclusive word meaning ‘ bar k.’ Thu s: tektowh, ‘valley cotton-wood bark’ (te, Populus wislizeni; k towh , t e g u r n e n t , bark). Thegeneral name for ‘moss’ is &u k ’ou h ,‘ rock skin ’ (&u, rock;L?ou&, tegument , bar k).

1 In t he sevent eenth cent ur y women went t o fetch firewood; see Benavides, Memorial (pp. 32,76):“ Nacion Taos . . .una vieja hechizera, la qual, á título de ir por leña al campo, sacó á otras quatromugeres buenas Cristianas.” At Santa Clara, after peace had been made with the Apaches de Navajoin September, 1629, " Salian ha sta las viejas por leña por aquella parte.” The acquisition of donkeys,and subsequently of horses and wagons, with iron tools, by the men, has removed wood-getting fromthe women’s sphere of labor. Occasionally an old widow, or a woman whose husband is an invalid,may be seen chopping wood or gathering fallen branches.

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-Jml, ‘to go.’ Th u s: fi@rnq~, ‘it sends out g r o w t h ?to go).

‘Arnsv, ‘t o gr ow sen ding out growth ’ (’a, to grow;

Thus: n $ a m q + ‘it gr ows sen ding out growt h ’grow; CV~,~Y,to go).

JP, ‘t o go about . ’ Thus: Y@G’~, ‘ it grows all about’ (@, it ; $ ?,to go about).

Q!@Y ‘to grow sprea ding about ’ (’a, to grow; $ i , to go about).

PY&, ‘ interlaced.’ Thus : ~$p’ i&rn~ l , ‘ i t i s interlaced’ (n & i t ;J&L&, interlaced; ~1235 to be). This is said of vines which grow

th rough oth er plan ts.

DENSE GROWTH, FOREST, GROVE

‘thick’, ‘dense’, ‘dense growth’, ‘forest’. This word is useda s a n a dject ive an d as a n ou n . Th u s: &&a’~~, ‘a s a gebru shplant of dense. growth’ (Zo, sagebrush plant; & a , thick, dense);z&a ‘sagebru sh th icket ,’ ‘place where the sagebrush is thick’($0,

sagebrush;,%a,

dense growth, forest). E a is used alone meaningforest , just as th e Mexican s u se monte a nd bosque. With na mes of geographical features postjoined, & a ma y be tr an slat ed ‘ wooded’or ‘wher e t her e is mu ch vegeta l growth .’l

Thus: Zo&a’akowu,a plain or valley where the sagebrush grows thick’ @o, sage-

b r u s h ; & a, thick, thick growth; ‘akonu, plain, valley); & a h &‘a low place wher e there is mu ch vegetal growth’ (&a, th ick, t hick growth; @q& low roundish place).

Bo&, &A& ‘ thing roundish like a ball, ‘pile,’ ‘ clung.’ Bo& is saidof large, &43 of small size. T h u s : tebo&, ‘grove of cotton-wood trees’ (te, Populus wisl izeni ; 50~1, grove). Often & a ,‘thick’ i s p r e j o i n e d t o Go&. T h u s : XX&O&,‘ a c l u m p o rgrove of thick vegetal growth’ (&a, thick,- thick growth; bo&,clump, grove).

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NV, ‘ ashes.’Ashes are stirred into the dough for making buwa (waferbread,

Spanish guallabe) a nd hwa &ada (corn tortillas), in order to turn itblue. At Hano th e ash es of a wild plan t, ‘ZU’&~ (Atriplex canescens)are preferred, but at the end of the winter, when the supply runsshort, th e ash es of sheep’s dun g ar e substit ut ed.

Ashes of corncobs are boiled with white corn in order to make itswell. Fray J uan de Escalona in h is privat e report from San Gabriel(Cha mit a ), 1st October, 1601, refers probably t o a simila r pr actice; hesays that the Indians, having been robbed of their corn, are eatingwild seeds m ixed with charcoa1. l

At Santa Clara warm ashes are rubbed on to relieve pain in t he

shins, attributed to cold. N&$jo, ‘as h wa ter ’ (sv, ashes; $0: water)is given t o ch ildr en a s a m edicine.

At Sa nt a Clar a a nd a t San Ildefonso, when children ha ve mea slesash es ar e dust ed over t he eru ption with a cloth to sooth th e irr itat ion.Hence the malady is called s g k m e (rq.~,ashes; kewe, --).

At the time of the Spanish advent ashes were mixed with adobefor bu ilding ma t erial.

Torquemada’s informant mentions the use of ashes in signaling:“Th ey [the Pueblo In dians] kn ow of t heir en emies’ a ppr oa ch from faroff, an d in order th at th e neighboring pueblos ma y come t o th eir a id,th e women go up to th e top of th eir h ouses a nd th row ash es int o th eair, and behind t his mak e a sm oth ered fire so th at by giving a t hickersmoke it may be better seen by the other pueblos whose help theydesire, and the women, striking their hands on their open mouths,raise a great cry which sounds loud and far off . . .”

Castaño de Sosa, in 1590, descr ibed t he th rowing of a sh es, perhap sin token of defiance: “The lieutenant went back to the pueblo toparley with them again, and they would not; on the contrary anInd ian woma n cam e out on a balcony of th e said h ouses, which a re a smu ch a s fou r or five stories high, a nd t hr ew a sma ll am oun t of a sh esat him, and a t t his they set u p a great clam or, and h e with drew.” 2

1 Torquemada, Monarchia Indiana, lib. v, p. 672.2 Doc. de Ind ias, xv, p. 229.

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Tewa Ethnobotany-1

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Transcript of Tewa Ethnobotany-1