SACHEM

A 'sachem' is the head of a Native American tribe. One source explains:

According to Captain John Smith, who explored New England in 1614, the Massachusett tribes called their kings "sachems" while the Penobscots (of Maine) used the term "sagamos" (anglicized as "sagamore"). Conversely, Deputy Governor Thomas Dudley of Roxbury wrote in 1631 that the kings in the 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, modern opinion is that "sachem" and "sagamore" are dialectical variations of the same word.^[1]

The "great chief" (Algonquin: ''massasoit sachem'') whose aid was such a boon to the Plymouth Colony is remembered today simply as Massasoit.^[2]

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References

References

1. ''The Daily Times Chronicle'', Winchester Edition, December 1999
2. Note that this ''massa-'' element meaning "great" in the Algonquin language also appears in the name of the Massachusett (i.e. "Great Hills people") and subsequently in the name of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.