Abnaki, (Wâbŭna'ki,
from wâbŭn,
a term associated with 'light,' 'white,' and refers to the morning and
the east; a`ki 'earth,' 'land'; hence Wâbŭna'ki
is an inanimate singular term signifying 'eastland,' or 'morning-land,'
the elements referring to animate dwellers of the east being
wanting.--Jones).
A name used by the English and French of the colonial
period to designate an Algonquian confederacy centering in the present
state of Maine, and by the Algonquian tribes to include all those of their
own stock resident on the Atlantic seaboard, more particularly the
"Abnaki" in the north and the Delawares in the south. More recently it has
been applied also to the emigrant Oneida, Stockbridge, and Munsee about
Green Bay, Wis. By the puritans they were generally called Tarrateen, a
term apparently obtained from the southern New England tribes; and though
that is the general conclusion of modern authorities, there is some
doubt as to the aboriginal origin of this term. In later times, after
the main body of the Abnaki had removed to Canada, the name was applied
more especially to the Penobscot tribe. The Iroquois called them Owenunga,
which seems to be merely a modification of Abnaki, or Abnaqui, the name
applied by the French and used by most modern writers. The form Openango
has been used more especially to designate the eastern tribes. Maurault
(Hist. des Aben., 2, 1866)says: "Some English authors have called
these savages Wabnoak, 'those of the east'; this is the reason they are
called 'Abenaki' by some among us. This name was given them because
they were toward the east with reference to the Narragansett."
Source: Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, Frederick Webb Hodge, 1906
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