Squaw Squaw Schwoogie Category="Native American"Squaw (from Algonquian squa, meaning "young woman") is an English loan-word whose present meaning is "an American Indian woman," regardless of Tribe.

Controversy

During the 1970's, some American Indian activists objected to the term, alleging that it came from a Mohawk (Iroquoian) slang word meaning "Cunt." The earliest known objection is from Thomas E. Sanders and Walter W. Peek, Literature of the American Indian (Glencoe Press, 1973), p. 184:
"That curious concept of "squaw," the enslaved, demeaned, voiceless childbearer, existed and exists only in the mind of the non-Native American and is probably a French corruption of the Iroquois word otsiskwa [also spelled ojiskwa] meaning "female sexual parts," a word almost clinical both denotatively and connotatively. The corruption suggests nothing about the Native American’s attitude toward women; it does indicate the wasichu’s [white man's] view of Native American women in particular if not all women in general."

Although knowlegable linguists roundly reject this proposed etymology--Algonquian and Mohawk are not even from the same language family--it has received much attention from journalists (including Oprah Winfrey) and inspired a number of local initiatives to rename places with "squaw" as a part of their names (such as Squaw Peak in Phoenix, Arizona).

In the activists' defense, it may seem odd for a special word to be needed for the female members of one ethnic group. For the sake of comparison, consider the effect of hearing young German women referred to (in English) as "frauleins," or young Mexican women as "senoritas."

Famous Squaws

Pocahontas

Sacagawea

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