PLANT NAMES OF THE TEWA 

 Chaeacter of Plant Names 



A majority of the Tewa names of plants are descriptive, having 

 reference to some striking characteristic of the plant, to its use, its 

 habitat, etc. The same is true to a great extent of common English 

 names of plants; for instance, ground ivy, monkey flower, pine drops, 

 crane's bill, monkshood, jack-in-the-pulpit, etc. Just as among Eng- 

 lish common names of plants we find some the reason for the original 

 application of which is not understood, so we find similar cases among 

 the Indians. Why do we call a certain tree dogwood ? And why do 

 the Tewa call a certain plant 'coyote plant'? As a result of the de- 

 scriptive character of plant names by far the larger proportion of them 

 are compound. Following is a list of such names. 



NON-COMPOLINDED TeWA PlANT NaMES 



It will be seen from the following list that the plants which have 

 non-compounded and distinctive names are the most common, con- 

 spicuous, and widely used ones of the region. The etymology of 

 these words is unknown to the Tewa, the words being merel}^ phonetic 

 symbols employed to designate the various plants. There are com- 

 paratively few of these unetymologizable names. Many other plant 

 names are formed by compounding them. 



Unetymologizable Plant Names of Native Oeigin 



^Abe, chokecherry ^V", large rabbit-brush 



^Awa, cattail Qwis^, mountain mahogany 



^Awi, Galium, bedstraw ^*«4, guaco 



ITy,, one-seeded juniper /Sa, tobacco 



J4y, willow * Sagohe^ potato-like plant 



eTb, chandelier cactus Sse^ Opuntia 



Kojaje, Span, yerba de vibora 8e¥se,ij^ cotton 



Kio^^ oak Si, onion 



Ky,y^ skunk-bush Su^ amaranth 



K^a'"'^ rose Ta, grass 



K'uy^ corn Te, valley cottonwood 



]V4nd, aspen Te, fungus 



J^wssy, rock pine (pi. 1) Tu, bean 



' 04a, globe mallow. fo, Rocky Mountain sage 



Po, squash, pumpkin To, pinon pine (pi. 1) 



Po, Phragmites, "carrizo" ^.se, Douglas. spruce 



Py.hy,^ four-o'clock Tfy^y, alder 



P'«, Yucca baccata, Span. W^joha^ ragweed 

 "datil" 

 10 



