Sachem

The Oxford English Dictionary found a use from 1613. The term "Sagamore" appears in Noah Webster's first An American Dictionary of the English Language published in 1828, as well as the 1917 Webster's New International Dictionary.{{Cite web|url=https://libraries.indiana.edu/sites/default/files/Sagamore%20of%20the%20Wabash-October-30-2017-final_3.pdf|title=Jeffrey Graf, "Sangamore of the Wabash" from Indiana University Libraries, Bloomington}}

One modern source explains:

According to Captain John Smith, who explored New England in 1614, the Massachusett tribes called their kings "sachems" while the Penobscots (of present-day Maine) used the term "sagamos" (anglicized as "sagamore"). Conversely, Deputy Governor Thomas Dudley of Roxbury wrote in 1631 that the kings in the Massachusetts Bay bay area were called sagamores, but were called sachems southward (in Plymouth). The two terms apparently came from the same root. Although "sagamore" has sometimes been defined by colonists and historians as a subordinate lord (or subordinate chief{{cite book|title=Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary|page=1018|publisher=G. & C. Merriam Co|location=Springfield, Massachusetts|date=1973|isbn=0-87779-308-5}}), modern opinion is that "sachem" and "sagamore" are dialectical variations of the same word.[http://www.hawthorneinsalem.org/Literature/NativeAmericans&Blacks/MainStreet/MMD666.html Life & Times: Squaw Sachem"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010144306/http://www.hawthorneinsalem.org/Literature/NativeAmericans%26Blacks/MainStreet/MMD666.html |date=2008-10-10 }}, Hawthorne in Salem, The Daily Times Chronicle, Winchester Edition (MA), December 1999, accessed 27 Jan 2010

{{see also|List of Native American leaders}}

The "great chief" (Southern New England Algonquian: massasoit sachem) whose aid was such a boon to the Plymouth Colony—although his motives were complex{{cite book | last=Mann | first=Charles C. | title=1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus | publisher=Knopf Doubleday | series=Borsoi Book | year=2005 | isbn=978-1-4000-4006-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jw2TE_UNHJYC}}—is remembered today as simply Massasoit.Note that this massa- element meaning "great" in the Massachusett language also appears in the name of the Massachusett (i.e. "Great Hills people") and subsequently in the name of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Another sachem, Mahomet Weyonomon of the Mohegan tribe, travelled to London in 1735, to petition King George II for fairer treatment of his people. He complained that their lands were becoming overrun by encroachment from white settlers. Other sachems included Uncas, Wonalancet, Madockawando, and Samoset.{{fact|date=June 2021}}

• The leader of New York City's Tammany Hall was officially referred to as Sachem.{{cite journal |title=Sachems & Sinners: An Informal History of Tammany Hall |journal=Time Magazine |date=August 22, 1955 |url=https://time.com/archive/6609871/sachems-sinners-an-informal-history-of-tammany-hall/ |access-date=20 September 2024}}
• In the 1940s, the legislature of Indiana created the honorary title of "Sagamore of the Wabash", analogous to Kentucky Colonel. In 1996, the government designated "Sachem of the Wabash" as a higher honor.{{cite press release |last1=Jankowski |first1=Jane |last2=Rateike |first2=Brad |date=13 March 2007 |title=Governor presents Sachem to Jane Blaffer Owen |location=Indianapolis, Indiana |publisher=Office of Governor Mitch Daniels |url=https://www.in.gov/portal/pressAndEvents/press25.htm |access-date=14 June 2023}}

• Sachem School District, on Long Island, one of the largest school districts on the island.
• Algonquin Regional High School, in Northborough, MA, named its art and poetry magazine Sachem after this Algonquian word.{{cn|date=May 2014}}
• Laconia High School, in Laconia, NH, refers to all of its athletic teams as the "Sachems".{{cn|date=May 2014}}
• Middleborough High School, in Middleboro, MA, refers to all of its athletic teams as the "Sachems".{{cn|date=May 2014}}
• Pentucket Regional High School, in West Newbury, MA, refers to all of its athletic teams as the "Sachems".
• Saugus High School, in Saugus, MA, refers to all of its athletic teams as the "Sachems".{{cn|date=December 2014}}
• Massapequa High School, in Massapequa, NY, named its annual student yearbook The Sachem.
• The Sachems, a secret society at Columbia University

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{{Reflist|refs=

{{cite book

| title=American Heritage Dictionary | year=2000

| publisher=Houghton Mifflin |edition=4th | chapter=sachem

| chapter-url= http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/sachem }}

{{cite book

| title=American Heritage Dictionary | year=2000

| publisher=Houghton Mifflin |edition=4th | chapter=sagamore

| chapter-url= http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/sagamore}}

{{cite web

| url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sachem

| title=sachem | work=Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

| publisher=Merriam-Webster Online | access-date=2009-11-09}}

{{cite web

| url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sagamore

| title=sagamore | work=Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

| publisher=Merriam-Webster Online |access-date=2009-11-09}}

}}

{{Wiktionary|sachem|sagamore}}

Category:Algonquian peoples

Category:Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands

Category:Titles and offices of Native American leaders

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