Tracks That Speak: The Legacy of Native American Words in North American Culture

What do the words saguaro, parka, hickory, and muskrat have in common? They all come from Native American languages. Few people consider how deeply American English is indebted to Native Americans and how widely the contributions of Native Americans are used in English today. In Tracks That Speak, Charles L. Cutler offers seventy fascinating studies, each focusing on a particular word borrowed from a Native American language. He tells us about the words themselves and about the things they stood—and stand—for, illuminating not only the roles these things played in traditional Indian societies but also the ones they continue to play in America today. For example, Cutler explains where the word moccasin comes from, how moccasins were made and decorated, what advantages they had for their wearers, how and when they were adopted by European settlers, and what incarnations of them can be found in modern clothing catalogs. Such a wealth of historical, ethnographic, and linguistic material on Native American loanwords in English has never before been gathered and presented so clearly, making Tracks That Speak as engaging as it is informative.

In France, the language police guard the linguistic periphery. English, on the other hand, is a language with open borders; no word needs a passport to make itself comfortable. In Tracks that Speak, Charles L. Cutler (a frequent contributor to American Heritage and American History Illustrated who died in 1999) contemplates some of the many Native American words that have found a second home in English. Some of those words--tepee, wigwam, igloo, potlatch--maintain their original meanings. Some--moccasin, kayak, totem--show their roots, but have been adapted for current use. Others--parka, muck-a-muck, buck, and half our state names--are such a part of daily use that one might never have stopped to consider their derivation. While others still--raccoon, skunk, moose, chipmunk, squash, saguaro, sequoia--give voice to so much of our natural world. Cutler's endearing discussions of over 70 such terms are wide-ranging in their sweep. They are historical, scientific, culinary, and quirky, as likely to refer to William Safire and the L.L. Bean catalogue as to John Smith and Chief Joseph. --Jane Steinberg