Etho natejonhne, "this was your number," or, this was the extent of your class. These words, or the similar form, etho natehadinhne, "this was their number," indicate apparently that the roll of chiefs belonging to a particular class or clan is completed. They are followed by three other words which have been already explained (ante, pages 33 and 80), sewater-ihwakhaonghkwe, sewarihwisaanonghkwe, kayanerenhkowa. In the written litany these three words are omitted toward the close,—probably to save the penman the labor of transcription; but in the actual ceremony it is understood that they are chanted wherever the formula etho natejonhne, or etho natchadinhne, occurs. In the modern Canienga speech this verb is thus conjugated in the plural,—etho being contracted to eh:—
ehnatetionhne, we were that number; ehnatejionhne, ye were that number; ehnatehadinhne, they were that number.
The three Canienga councillors of the first class all belong to the
Tortoise clan.
31. Sharenhowane; in Onondaga, Showenhona. This name was translated by the interpreters, "he is the loftiest tree." It seems properly to mean "he is a great tree-top," from karenha, or garenha, which Bruyas renders cime d'arbre, and kowane, great.
Deyonnhehgonh, or Teyonhehkwen, "double life," from onnhe, life. My friend, Chief George Johnson, who bears this titular appellation, tells me that it is properly the name of a certain shrub, which has a great tenacity of life.
Ohrenregowah; in Onondaga, Owenhegona. The interpreters differed much in opinion as to the meaning of this name. Some said "wide branches;" another, "a high hill." The root-word, ohrenre, is obsolete, and its meaning is apparently lost.
The three chiefs of the second class or division of the Caniengas belong to the Wolf clan.
32. Dehennakarine; in Onondaga, Tehennakaihne; "going with two horns." The root is onakara, horn; the termination ine, or ihne, gives the sense of going; de or te is the duplicative prefix.
Aghstawenserontha (Onon. Hastawensenwa), "he puts on the rattles." Mr. Bearfoot writes, "Ohstawensera seems to have been a general name for anything denuded of flesh, but is now confined to the rattles of the rattlesnake."
Shosgoharowane (Onon. Shosgohaehna), "he is a great wood-drift." "Yohskoharo, writes Mr. Bearfoot, means an obstruction by driftwood in creeks or small rivers."