Re: Word of the day: “Papoose”

On Sat, 31 Aug 2024 19:54:02 +0100, Aidan Kehoe wrote:

Cradle boards and other child carriers used by Native Americans are
known by various names. In Algonquin history, the term papoose is
sometimes used to refer to a child carrier.”
 
Given I am 43 and fairly well-read I can assert that it has basically no
currency outside the US. Does it have much currency within the US?

I knew it as a child in South Africa, certainly before the age of ten,
and I also knew it to be of North American origin. In my understanding it
referred to a young child being carried on its mother's back tightly
bundled.

Such a sight was familiar to me growing up, as black women in South
Africa often carried young children on their backs in that way, usually
tied up in blankets.

In Namibia the Herero people used a square of untanned goatskin, with
strips of skin attached to each corner, for that purpose. It was called
"otjivereko", and we were given one as a gift when our eldest child was
born. Back then, in the 1970s, white people often carried children in
that way too, sometimes on the back, and sometimes in front, and one
could buy a kind of canvas otjivereko in many shops selling baby goods.

So in my understanding a "papoose" was a North American otjivereko, which
differed from the southern African version in incorporating a stiff board.





--
Steve Hayes http://khanya.wordpress.com