OAS ARCH NOTES 87-3:13-14
John Steckley
In the 1740s Huron-French dictionary of Jesuit Father Pierre Potier, the term “,a,enha” was given as meaning, “perches qui servent a commencer la cab/ane/.”, ‘poles that are used to begin the house’ (Potier 1920:447).
A problem with that translation is that no mention is made of “,a,enha” in the 17th century dictionary lists of the parts of the longhouse (FHL234 and FHO). Does this mean that these poles may have performed a function like providing a kind of supportive scaffolding used to keep the longhouse up as it was first being erected, only to be withdrawn once the building was completed?
While the traditional function of this type of pole is not yet known, there is evidence to demonstrate that during the time the Jesuit missionaries lived in Huronia the term “,a,enha” was used to refer to the thick poles used to build palisades influenced by French construction methods. This evidence comes in the form of two Huron village names: “Iahenhouton” and “Taenhatentaron” or “Tahententaron”.
Iahenhouton
The name “Iahenhouton” appears once in 1637 (JR14:15-17). It was reported as being populated by people from Ossossane, the main village of the Bear ‘tribe’ of the Huron.
There are earlier references to Ossossane being relocated and reconstructed (JR8:101 and JR10:53), the new fortification being reported by Father Charles Garnier as having, in 1637, two towers of about thirty poles each at the corners or the ramparts (Jones 1908:306; see Trigger 1976:513-15).
I believe that “Iahenhouton” was a reference to those towers This can be seen in the translation of this name. The noun “,a,enha” is combined with the verb “8t”, meaning ‘to stand, rise above’ (Potier 1920:437 #76). With the distributive suffic -on- (see Potier 1920:61 “De verbo multiplicativo”), we get the meaning, ‘several or many standing poles (i e., the poles of the towers)’.
The presence of the -h- rather than -,- between the -a- and the -e- should not be considered as lessening the validity of the analysis. It is not unusual, for example, to find an -h- in Recollect Brother Gabriel Sagard’s writings in places in words where later writers used -,-:
Les mains. Ahonressa
/ “,a,onresa” (Potier 1920:447 / Sagard 1866:86)
Ciseaux. Eindahein dehein
/ “kandahiande,en” (FHL37 / Sagard 1866:90)
Two other translations for “lahenhouton” exist in the literature. Father Jones gives it as meaning “The one skillful manager of many important affairs” (Jones 1908:146). His major mistake in this, as in most of his translations, is of trying to combine more than one verb –in this case three– in one word.
Hewitt gives “Iahenhouton” as meaning “at the caves” (Hodge 1971:214). This is also incorrect, as the Huron noun for ‘cave’ is “8ate” (Potier 1920:446).
Taenhatentaron or Tahententaron
The hypothesis of the association between “,a,enha” and French-influenced palisade construction is reinforced by the fact that a village said to have been considered impregnable because of the French-style defences constructed (JR39: 247), also had the noun “,a,enha” in it. That village was “Taenhatentaron” or “Tahententaron” (JR17:99). The combining verb is “,atenctra”, meaning ‘to lie flat, stretch out’ (Potier 1920:365 #96). With the distributive -on- giving the meaning of ‘several, many’ we get ‘where several or many poles are lying on the ground, stretched out’. I believe this is referring to having at least part of the palisades constructed horizontally in the French style.
Father Jones in his translation of the name as “Where the Dry Pole, or Post, Lies in the Way” or “Where the Two Dry Poles Lie Athwart”, again makes the mistake of trying to combine two verbs in one.
References Cited
FHL
c1697 French-Huron dictionary. m.s .
FHO
c1655 French-Huron-Onondaga dictionary. m.s .
Hodge, F. W. ed.
1971 Handbook of Indians of Canada. Coles reprint, orig. 1913, King’s Printer, Ottawa.
Jones, Rev. A. E.
1908 8endake Ehen or Old Huronia. Fifth Report of the Ontario Bureau of Archives, Toronto.
Potier, Pierre
1920 The Fifteenth Report of the Bureau of Archives for the for the Province of Ontario for the Years 1918-1919. Clarkson W. James, Toronto.
Sagard, Gabriel
1866 Histoire du Canada. Edwin Tross, Paris.
Thwaites, Reuben Gold
1896- The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents. 1901 73 vols., The Burrows Bros., Cleveland.
Trigger, Bruce
1976 The Children of Aataentsic. 2 vols., McGill-Queen’s Univ. Press, Montreal.