Please rephrase my? Do any of the American Indian tribes have a word that means to be enlightened?

Question

I am sorry if I have offended anyone with my question I have the utmost respect for the American Indians, and I personally regret what the early settlers of our nation did to them.

Answer 1

Some of the English - Cherokee dictionaries on the internet list 'adadeyodi' as a word meaning "to advise" or "to enlighten." Its adjectival form is 'udawonvtanvgi' "advised; enlightened."

English translations of American Indian words are frequently only approximate. Occasionally, there is no exact English equivalent even for some Spanish, French and German words (e.g. macho, demure, Hofbräuhaus ) but it only increases when you get into non-European type languages.

Some years ago I read an article in the "Seattle Times" on how many treaty problems between whites and Indians in Washington state stemmed from language problems and the fact that many Salish Indian words had no exact English equivalents. So, when the treaties were drawn up some words meant things a little differently to the Indians than to the U.S. government.