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How to use the Ojibwe People's Dictionary

Gillfillan on fishing

The Ojibway's staple food now is fish. Every morning the first thing the woman living on Leech lake, Cass lake, or Winnibigoshish, does when she awakes is to take her paddle jump into her canoe, and draw her nets...Indians have averred to me that no Indians living on those lakes were ever hungry...In the fall, when the lakes are just freezing up, is the time of their laying in their supply of fish for the winter...Every family can take an unlimited quantity, for winter use, at that season.
from
Joseph A. Gilfillan, The Ojibways in Minnesota, Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, Vol. 9 (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 1901) 76-77.

The Ojibwe People's Dictionary is developed and maintained by:
Nora Livesay, Editor
John D. Nichols, Founder and Linguistic Editor

with support and collaboration from the University of Minnesota's Department of American Indian Studies and University Libraries.

Additional Resources

Many of the words in the Ojibwe People's Dictionary have related resources. Click through to the full dictionary entry to hear audio recordings, see images, read documents and watch videos. Here's a key to resource icons.

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Speakers & Regions Key

Individual speakers and speakers from different regions use different words when speaking. Each audio recording is marked with the initials of the Ojibwe speaker. Click on a speaker's initials to go to the speaker's bio page. If an Ojibwe word is particular to a certain region, it will be marked with a region code. Click on the region code to go to the Regions page.