calumet de paix

[Alan Hartley]

> Does anyone know if a morpheme for "peace" occurs in any Siouan language's
> term for "pipe"? I'm trying to determine the origin of "paix" (peace) in
> the French expression "calumet de paix" (peace pipe).

I would bet on an Iroquois source. The following is from a treaty with
the Senecas in Quebec in 1666 in Docs. Colonial Hist. NY 9.50 (in Eng.
translation--no French original): "they paint some red calumets, peace
calumets on the tomb." The term is common in French and English docs in
DCHNY, usually in Iroquoian contexts.

Alan