# Native American language **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 21, 2002, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/native-american-language/120124 "2002-07-21T20:23:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lodrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@Lodrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lodrain)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/native-american-language/120124/21 "2002-07-23T18:44:08Z")
Oh. I honestly thought it was _t **a** beru_. Now, I’ll just bow out before I propogate any more ignorance. ---
**Author:** ![hazel-rah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/73ab20/32.png) [@hazel-rah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hazel-rah)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/native-american-language/120124/22 "2002-07-23T20:43:04Z")
It is **taberu**. I know the vowel **u** in Japanese tends to be swallowed anytime it comes after **s** , and in a few other places, but I don’t remember if this is necessarily true in all dialects of Japanese. In **taberu** , as it happens, it is _not_ swallowed. The rule can’t be “between aspirated consonants” because it also happens in words ending with **su** even if they are at the end of an utterance. I didn’t even know **s** could _be_ aspirated. Better summon a Doper fluent in Japanese if we wanna continue this hijack. Anyway, I came back to the thread because a friend passed me a relevant link. It’s a [FAQ](http://www.geocities.com/bigorrin/iaq.htm) about common myths concerning native languages of the Americas. Question four deals with Algonquin’s relationship with Semitic or Germanic languages. The OP’s article about Algonquin/Irish sounds like a new twist on this false claim. -fh ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/native-american-language/120124/23 "2002-07-23T20:53:35Z")
I think the spelling issue was whether the romanized version of the hiragana symbol prnounced ‘teh’ was spelled ‘te’ or ‘ta,’ not whether you can hear the ‘oo’ at the end of the word. ---
**Author:** ![hazel-rah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/73ab20/32.png) [@hazel-rah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hazel-rah)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/native-american-language/120124/24 "2002-07-24T00:06:22Z")
I’m sorry, I thought the word in dispute was the Japanese verb meaning “to eat.” The Japanese word for table according to my Japanese-English dictionary is **teeburu**. The doubling of the vowel doesn’t change its sound, only it’s duration. Japanese does have minimal pairs for short vs. long vowels, so it does matter. -fh ---
**Author:** ![MisterBK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8c91f0/32.png) [@MisterBK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MisterBK)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/native-american-language/120124/25 "2002-07-24T03:34:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Libertarian \* > \*\*Cherokee gave you “yankee”. 🙂 \*\* I can’t tell whether you’re being sarcastic, so I gotta chime in here with a big “nuh-uh!” From [wordorigins.org](http://www.wordorigins.org/wordory.htm) : > [@](#): > > **Yankee** > This self-referential American term is of uncertain origin… The leading hypothesis as to its origin is that it is from the Dutch _janke_, meaning a diminutive of the name Jan… > > Other, less likely origins have also been suggested. > > The earliest suggestion comes from Thomas Anburey, a British officer serving under Burgoyne in 1789. He claims it comes from the Cherokee word _ **eankke** _ meaning coward. Supposedly, it was first applied by Virginians to New Englanders who refused to help them in their war with the Cherokees. No other reference to the Cherokee word has been found, however. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/native-american-language/120124/26 "2002-07-24T07:33:16Z")
It’s an inside joke. The Cherokee word for coward is “usgianu”. (The “g” is kind of between a “g” and a “k”.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/native-american-language/120124.md?page=1)