Ojibwe Sugaring Vocabulary (English sort)

April iskigamizige-giizis (D, N) (‘sugaring month’; in Lower Michigan, March is ‘sugaring month’ [Bl])

boiling (sap) to sugar ombigamizigan (N)

boils (sap) to sugar, sugars off (originally using hot rocks in trough of wood, bark, or skin) ombigamizige (N), iskigamizige (B, N), ziizibaakwadoke (B, Bl)

cache for sugar-making utensils asanjigoowigamig (D, N) (‘storage lodge’)

container (of birch-bark) for sugar makak (B, Bl, D, N)

finishes boiling sap ishkwaagamizige (N)

gathering bucket nadooban (B, D)

gathers sap aawazibii (B), naadoobii (B, N)

granulates sugar nase’ige (B, N), naseyaawangwe (N)

kettle akik (B, D, N)

kettle-hanging hook agoodakikwaan (B, D, N)

maple forest maanakiki (B)

maple tree ininaatig (N) (‘ordinary or native tree’; plural ininaatigoog, locative [‘place of maples’] ininaatigong); aninaatig (B, N)

mold (wooden) for sugar cakes ziiga’iganaatig (B)

paddle (spattle) with which sap is stirred while boiling gaashkakokwe’igan (B, D, N)

sap onsiban (B); ziinzibaakwadaaboo (B, D, N) (‘sugar water’); wiishkobaaboo (N) (‘sweet water’)

sap begins to run maajigaa (B, N)

sap bucket (of folded birch bark) biskitenaagan (B, D, N) (‘bent dish’)

sap drips fast gizhiigaa (B, N)

sap is whitish (cloudy), spoiled waakkwaagami nibi (B)

sap runs at night nibaagaa (B) (‘it drips at night’)

sap stops running, is the last run of sap ishkwaaga (B, N)

sap-boiling frame (for holding kettles) iskigamiziganaak (N)

sap-boiling pole (from which kettles are hung) iskigamiziganaatig (N) (‘sugar-making stick’); jiibaakwanaatig (D) (‘cooking stick’)

spile (wooden, driven into hole at bottom of tapping incision) negwaakwaan (B, D, N)

spoon (wooden) for dipping sap mitigwemikwaan (B, D, N)

stirs (sugar) in sugar-making nase’ige (B, N)

strainer for sap zhaabobiiginigan (D, N)

sugar ziinzibaakwad (D, N), ziizibaakwad (B, Bl)

sugar (loose, not in cakes; Fr. cassonade) nase’igan (B)

sugar cake, sugar cone, hard sugar, usu. made by pouring into molds (e.g., upper bill of a duck) ziiga’igan (B, D, N)

sugar cakes, sugar cones,, makes ziiga’ige (B, N)

sugar camp iskigamizigan (B, N), ziizibaakwadogan (B)

sugar cone zhiishiigwaans (N) (‘little rattle’, from its shape?)

sugar made of last (bad) run of sap ishkwaagaziinzibaakwad (B, D)

sugar tastes of last (bad) run of sap ishkwaagapogwad ziizibaakwad (B)

sugar in form of taffy, gum sugar (Fr. sucre en gomme) bigiwizigan (B, D, N) (‘pitch-like substance’)

sugar in form of taffy,, makes bigiwizige (N)

sugar-making lodge iskigamizigewigamig (D, N)

sugar-making woman iskigamizigekwe (B)

sugar-making, work of sugar-makers ziizibaakwadokewin, iskigamizigewin (B)

syrup zhiiwaagamizigan (B, N)

tapping chisel (hollow) negwaakwaanibiiwaabik (B)

tapping incision ozhiga’igan (B, D)

taps trees ozhiga’ige (B, N)

trough in which thickened sap is granulated after boiling, using the gaashkakokwe’igan or one’s hands nase’inaagan (D), naseyaawangwaan (N)

trough (originally of birchbark) in which collected sap is held before boiling; tank atoobaan (B, D, N)

Sources

B: Frederic Baraga, Dict. of the Otchipwe Language (1878-80). Bishop Baraga was most familiar with Ottawa, an eastern dialect of Ojibwe that was spoken as far west as northern Wisconsin.

Bl: Leonard Bloomfield, Eastern Ojibwa (1956). Bloomfield worked in Lower Michigan.

D: Frances Densmore, Chippewa Customs (1929). Densmore worked mostly in northern Minnesota.

N: John D. Nichols & Earl Nyholm, A Concise Dict. of Minnesota Ojibwe (1995).

Spelling follows Nichols & Nyholm (as much as I’ve been able).

Pronunciation

a: uh (uh-oh!)

aa: ah (father)

e: ay (hay)

i: ih (bit)

ii: ee (beet)

o: o (obey), oo (book)

oo: o (boat), oo (boot)

‘: (glottal stop, as between the syllables in uh-oh)

The other consonants are roughly as in English.

Bonus: "Chanhassen" is from Dakota chang-hasang ‘sugar maple’