Odawa People - Tribe Name

Tribe Name

Odaawaa (syncoped as Daawaa, supposedly from the Anishinaabe word adaawe, meaning “to trade,” or “to buy and sell”) is a term common to the Cree, Algonquin, Nipissing, Montagnais, Ottawa, and Ojibwa. The Potawatomi spelling of Odawa and the English derivative “Ottawa” are also common. The Anishinaabe word for "Those men who trade, or buy and sell" is Wadaawewinini(wag), which was recorded by Fr. Frederic Baraga in his A Dictionary of the Otchipwe Language as "Watawawininiwok," but he recorded it as meaning "men of the bulrushes", from the many bulrushes in the Ottawa River. This recorded meaning is associated with the Matàwackariniwak, a historical band of Algonquins living about the Ottawa River. Their neighbors applied the "Trader" name to the Ottawa because in early traditional times, and also during the early European contact period, they were noted as intertribal traders and barterers. They dealt "chiefly in cornmeal, sunflower oil, furs and skins, rugs and mats, tobacco, and medicinal roots and herbs."

Like the Ojibwa, the Odaawaa usually refer to themselves as Nishnaabe (Anishinaabe, plural: Nishnaabeg / Anishinaabeg), meaning "original people."

The name in its English transcription is the source of the place names of Ottawa, Ontario, and the Ottawa River. The Odaawaa's home territory at the time of early European contact, but not their trading zone, was well to the west of the city and river named after them. The tribe is source of the name for Tawas City, Michigan, and Tawas Point, which reflect the syncope-form of their name.