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Odds and Ends => Etcetera => Topic started by: Cloud on December 18, 2009, 09:10:56 am

Title: The Word "Aho"
Post by: Cloud on December 18, 2009, 09:10:56 am
The word "Aho" seems to be popping up in more pagan communities and I'm curious to find out it's true meaning. I've been told it's Apache, and Cherokee, and Dine, and, and, and. I've Googled it and come up with even more confusing contradictions. Now I'm wondering if it's just a word a fraud made up because it "sounded" native.

In one seminar I attended all the participants were asked to share and then finish off with "Aho". When I just said "Thank you" instead, I was accused of having a problem with native spirituality.  ???

Help, please?
Title: Re: The Word "Aho"
Post by: Paul123 on December 18, 2009, 10:25:30 am
Try Japanese.
Title: Re: The Word "Aho"
Post by: Renee on December 18, 2009, 11:12:43 am
Try Japanese.
this is funny :)
japanese: "aho"
german translation: "idiot"
http://209.85.135.132/search?q=cache:RO73THwMgAMJ:www.schulportal.bremerhaven.de/humboldtzeitung/japanisch.htm+japanisch+aho&cd=1&hl=de&ct=clnk&gl=at
Title: Re: The Word "Aho"
Post by: Renee on December 18, 2009, 11:18:37 am
Try Japanese.
japanisch - deutsch
japanese - german
aho - idiot  :)
http://www.schulportal.bremerhaven.de/humboldtzeitung/japanisch.htm
Title: Re: The Word "Aho"
Post by: TRIBALMOONS@yahoo.com on December 18, 2009, 02:33:04 pm
This is what I found :


Yahoo Answers

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker
"Aho" is Lakhota and has been borrowed into many other North American languages as a result of hearing the word at pow-wows in the 20th century. "Aho" means "yes, I agree". It is used in prayers in somewhat the same way that "amen" is used ("amen" means "i agree"), but it is not used exclusively in prayers. It is used in any situation where a discussion is being conducted.
Source(s):
I am a Linguistics professor at a major US university

   

Some say it is Cree and Ojibway
Title: Re: The Word "Aho"
Post by: earthw7 on December 18, 2009, 03:38:09 pm
I asked around and it is not Lakota and when I began researching the word first pop up at pow-wows in the 1930s. People told me it was Lakota but i am Lakota and never here it on the rez here so i started to ask and that is what i was told. I do hear the word from urban Indians so it could be just one of those words. So far no-one wants to claim it.

I suppose a word like aho means our spirituality I don't think so.
so many people make up thing in this newager stuff
Title: Re: The Word "Aho"
Post by: Superdog on December 18, 2009, 03:57:56 pm
I asked around and it is not Lakota and when I began researching the word first pop up at pow-wows in the 1930s. People told me it was Lakota but i am Lakota and never here it on the rez here so i started to ask and that is what i was told. I do hear the word from urban Indians so it could be just one of those words. So far no-one wants to claim it.

I suppose a word like aho means our spirituality I don't think so.
so many people make up thing in this newager stuff

I've never even thought about it before....but I associate it with Oklahoma....maybe Kiowas.  Don't really know though.

Superdog
Title: Re: The Word "Aho"
Post by: taraverti on December 18, 2009, 06:35:39 pm
The word "Aho" seems to be popping up in more pagan communities and I'm curious to find out it's true meaning. I've been told it's Apache, and Cherokee, and Dine, and, and, and. I've Googled it and come up with even more confusing contradictions. Now I'm wondering if it's just a word a fraud made up because it "sounded" native.

In one seminar I attended all the participants were asked to share and then finish off with "Aho". When I just said "Thank you" instead, I was accused of having a problem with native spirituality.  ???

Help, please?

 :D I've participated in trainings that would end with a talking circle, where the protocol was to end with the word "ho!" I've always gone with the flow on this one, (one must pick one's battles!) as the overall intention and quality of the training was excellent, and no real spirituality was being used or misrepresented.

Besides, back in the '80's in Philadelphia, "Ho!" was a common sallutation or call out, kind of like "Hey!" among younger folks. I don't hear it anymore, but it was all the rage when my kids were younger. I think that came out of South Philly. So those two letters certainly are not exclusive to whatever supposed native language they come from.

It would be really funny if it turned out not to be from any native language at all. For some reason it will make it even more fun to speak it at the end of those training sessions. Seems we've been acting like Rocky or calling each other cheap prostitutes!
I guess "ho!" takes less time to say than "I'm done now"

Awaiting clarification on this one. ;D
Title: Re: The Word "Aho"
Post by: Cloud on December 18, 2009, 08:09:04 pm
Try Japanese.

I'm glad I asked!  :)  When I read this response I spoke to a co-worker whose mother is Japanese (born, raised & spent most of her young adult years in Japan). Her mother said Aho means pretty much the way it sounds. Aho - A$$hole. Also stupid or idiot.   ;D

If anyone does find a true native connection, I'd still love to hear it.

Thank you, all !
Title: Re: The Word "Aho"
Post by: debbieredbear on December 19, 2009, 02:48:41 am
I was told in around 1972. John Emhoolah told me that when he was a teacher at the University of Washington. I also heard that from 2 other Kiowa people. ALl three spoke the language so I always thought that it was Kiowa. But that is only what I have heard.
Title: Re: The Word "Aho"
Post by: Sizzle Flambé on December 19, 2009, 12:51:31 pm
I asked around and it is not Lakota....

This Lakota-English/English-Lakota Dictionary doesn't list aho, but it does list haho = "Look at this!" or "Hey, look here!" (http://books.google.com/books?id=FZXjXmydYm4C&pg=PA473&lpg=PA473); and hahó hahó = Gratitude and Joy for a gift (p.xxxii; or see page 76 (http://books.google.com/books?id=FZXjXmydYm4C&pg=PA76&lpg=PA76)); and ho = "Yes, all right" (interjection of affirmation) (http://books.google.com/books?id=FZXjXmydYm4C&pg=PA87&lpg=PA87).

So it's not that one word means all these things; they are just homonyms, sound-alikes.

"Hello" is hau, "Amen" is nunwe.
Title: Re: The Word "Aho"
Post by: wolfhawaii on December 19, 2009, 08:40:18 pm
"Aho" is pretty common in powwow circles and has been adopted by the "talking circle" bunch; I heard it was from the Kiowa. "Ho" is used as an affirmative in certain Cherokee ceremonial circumstances. Now I guess we'll hear from the wannabes.......Ho! Ho! Ho! I guess Santa was Cherokee :)
Title: Re: The Word "Aho"
Post by: Defend the Sacred on December 19, 2009, 09:06:11 pm
"Aho" is pretty common in powwow circles and has been adopted by the "talking circle" bunch; I heard it was from the Kiowa. "Ho" is used as an affirmative in certain Cherokee ceremonial circumstances. Now I guess we'll hear from the wannabes.......Ho! Ho! Ho! I guess Santa was Cherokee :)

"Ho" was the standard affirmative, multi-purpose response used by Vincent LaDuke/Sun Bear's crew ("The Bear Tribe"), and by people of every imaginable ethnicity (but mostly white nuagers) at his "Medicine Wheel" gatherings. People left those events "Ho"-ing like Santa.

From that gathering in 1984 I watched it spread through all sorts of Neopagan and Nuage circles, with people saying it repeatedly whenever they wanted to affirm something that someone said. It was especially common when the nons were mimicking an NDN ceremony, though they said it in other sorts of rituals, too. *cringes in retrospect*
Title: Re: The Word "Aho"
Post by: Moma_porcupine on December 20, 2009, 01:39:32 am
Doing a google search on "Kiowa" and "Aho" it sounds like Aho is a Kiowa word for Thankyou.
I copied what I found below, but when I click on both these links what was listed in the google search doesn't seem to come up .


Quote
[PDF] Microsoft PowerPoint - Kiowa Tribe Env Overview for EPA DVC Part I  File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
AHO means thank you in our Kiowa language. • Thank you for sharing your concerns and knowledge for our Mother Earth and the environment which provides ...
www.epa.gov/Region6/6dra/oejta/tribalaffairs/dvc/kiowapresentation.pdf


Quote
Religion-Centered Anecdotes of Ft. Sill  by JT Bratcher - 1964
the Kiowas all jumped up and began yelling "Aho-aho, aho-aho!"-meaning. "Thank you!" The interpreter had got things confused and the Indians thought ...
www.jstor.org/stable/1520673

So I guess Aho probably is Thank you in the Kiowa language.

But I am left wondering how and why this Kiowa word would become such a common expression  in the pan Indian community? Is "Aho" a modification of Sun Bear using the word "Ho"? Or was there maybe a very respected Kiowa Spiritual leader who used this word and it spread? Or was the word Aho used in some popular movie like Billy Jack or Little Big Man or Powwow Highway and it spread from there ?

This seems like a good example of how pan indian versions of indigenous cultures can take root and then become widespread and then suddenly one day people realize no one actually knows what they are doing, or saying or why... 

I guess then people say Oh oh
 ???
Title: Re: The Word "Aho"
Post by: earthw7 on December 21, 2009, 08:44:15 pm
Thank you I knew it was not lakota
Title: Re: The Word "Aho"
Post by: apukjij on December 26, 2009, 06:52:59 pm
In Mi'kmaq the term Ta ho is an ancient term, is used at the end of a Traditional Ceremonial song, or sometimes at the end of a speech; to signify aggreement and add emphasis to what is being shared by one or the group of listeners present. however it is never used at the end of catholic prayers or hymns that have been translated into Mi'kmaq. Mohawk Elder Tom Porter uses it at the end of his Traditional prayers, he teaches in his way that it means "we are of one mind and one heart about it" it being what ever prayer or song was being shared. It is not known if it was used at the end of Traditional Mi'kmaq Prayers before contact.
Title: Re: The Word "Aho"
Post by: E.P. Grondine on December 28, 2009, 12:11:40 am
A good question.

I quick internet search on "aho" has it showing up in omaha, iowa, and odawa.

I suspect it may have come from an algonquin source, cognate with shawnee "ahah", "yes", but more emphatic: "Yes!".

It also seems to be being used in the sense of "hello", "thanks", and "blessing".

Title: Re: The Word "Aho"
Post by: earthw7 on December 28, 2009, 03:29:30 pm
Too funny ;D ;D

So many new agers and wannabes use this word trying to be
something and don't even know where it came from. what can
you say DUH!
Title: Re: The Word "Aho"
Post by: critter - a white non-ndn person on December 28, 2009, 04:07:06 pm
I don't know.. I put an L and an E at the end, and then I know what it means...  :D
Title: Re: The Word "Aho"
Post by: Cloud on December 28, 2009, 10:01:38 pm
I received more background on the info from a couple of new friends who say "Aho" is an Apache word. It was taught to them by their Apache teacher, Maria Yraceburu. I pointed them in the direction of NAFPS. Evidently they've been told that the fraud thing is all because the Apache nation isn't thrilled that Maria is teaching people who aren't Apache and that Maria says it needs to be passed down and taught to others if it's to survive.

I feel sick.

Interesting. Google actually lists a phone number for her. Yraceburu EarthWisdom - Escondido California - 760.445.6266 http://www.yraceburu.org/Maria.html (http://www.yraceburu.org/Maria.html)  Part of this website lists her as being Chiricahua Apache now. Or was she always claiming that in addition to the Quero Apache?

I googled the phone number. This woman has her fists in everything!
Title: Re: The Word "Aho"
Post by: critter - a white non-ndn person on December 28, 2009, 10:47:38 pm
An "honorarium of around $500/day or $100/hr"  I guess their books and artwork isn't selling too well .. 

This is really sick though, that's a revolting amount of money to charge and call it an 'honorarium'  and some may need more 'honorarium' for their time..  good grief.. who in the world is worth that much?  Or think they are.. or.. well, whatever, I just really hate this kind of thing. 

There are real people in the real world who are seriously trying to follow a feeling in side of them .. a feeling of 'Spirit'..  and this is all they are offered to help them on their way..  a charge of 500 bucks/100 per hour to help them. 

The people charging this money should be ashamed.. but of course they are not.. they're egos tell them they are well worth it..  and so.. I'll put the L and the E at the end of Aho and say that to them..  at least.. I'll know what I mean with it.. 
Title: Re: The Word "Aho"
Post by: Defend the Sacred on December 29, 2009, 11:38:58 pm
Evidently they've been told that the fraud thing is all because the Apache nation isn't thrilled that Maria is teaching people who aren't Apache and that Maria says it needs to be passed down and taught to others if it's to survive.

I feel sick.

That's a common fraud thing. I've met a number of white people who sincerely believed they were helping NDNs and cultural survival by learning ceremonies from frauds. They had no idea. Another common thing is for the frauds to tell the nons that the ceremonies need to be spread beyond NDNs so we can all "heal the earth". They really believe that by mimicking ceremonies they are helping.
Title: Re: The Word "Aho"
Post by: WINative on July 25, 2013, 03:56:46 pm
Hau (used only by men)-Lakota. Is the word for greeting or hello. As an urban Indian this is where I was taught it came from. The spelling has been changed to "Aho" and it has become a pan-indian word of prayer like saying Amen or giving your acknowledgment or support also. This is where the Hollywood film got there greetings of "How!" for Italian-played Indians...
Title: Re: The Word "Aho"
Post by: earthw7 on July 25, 2013, 05:47:50 pm
Its a Kiowa word that was spread by the pow-wow circle and became the new age word
so even today we have our young people using the word to sound REAL NATIVE  ;D ;D
Title: Re: The Word "Aho"
Post by: Late Worm on July 26, 2013, 05:26:40 am
I've heard the term "aho" used for years and years - by various Indian groups.  I think it was popular at Wounded Knee to talk that way.  But look at the context - a speaker says something to a group and they respond with "aho."  It's another way of saying "amen" - I mean that's the way it functions.  Even if it was derived from a particular indigenous language it's use today is a matter of style and fashion.  Come to think of it I've heard it used in Mexico also among Indians - pretty funny since in Spanish "ajo" is wild garlic.
Title: Re: The Word "Aho"
Post by: choctawwind on October 22, 2013, 06:42:46 pm
The word Aho is the MASCULINE version of Lakota, Aho Mitakuye Oyasin........like "amen"..........to hear a woman say "Aho" is so wannabe and inappropriate.  Women should say "Iyay".  Iyay Mitakuye Oyasin.
Title: Re: The Word "Aho"
Post by: debbieredbear on October 22, 2013, 08:30:35 pm
Choctawwind
 earthw7 IS Lakota and says it's Kiowa.
Title: Re: The Word "Aho"
Post by: Defend the Sacred on October 22, 2013, 10:08:51 pm
Yep.  Please read the whole thread, "choctawwind." Earthw7 is a respected historian from Standing Rock and knows her own language. As do plenty of others who are reading this.

I agree that lots of pan-Indian exploiters and ceremony-sellers like to use what they think are Lakota words. :)
Title: Re: The Word "Aho"
Post by: milehighsalute on October 24, 2013, 02:57:50 pm
i heard the term aho my whole life of 44yrs.....then again i live in denver where john emhoolah, the clevelands, the cozads, the zotighs ect always been a big part of powwow out here.......and they are all kiowa....and trust me kiowas are behind almost every powwow in the country in some way...real powwows at least.....you'll always find a a kiowa somewhere nearby

they use aho for hello, see you later, thank you, to wish you blessings or an exclamation...but technically i think it loosely translates to thank you

i understand "weecha" thats used by alot of powwow mc's is also a kiowa word for exclamation.......i never hear it outside of powwow though

example: during fast part of mens fancy contest song you may hear the mc say "look at them boys go....WEEEEEEEE CHAAAAHH!!!"

all i gotta say is my kiowa friends sure like to powwow

Title: Re: The Word "Aho"
Post by: earthw7 on October 25, 2013, 12:31:49 am
The word Aho is the MASCULINE version of Lakota, Aho Mitakuye Oyasin........like "amen"..........to hear a woman say "Aho" is so wannabe and inappropriate.  Women should say "Iyay".  Iyay Mitakuye Oyasin.

Too funny we dont have an "amen".......................... thats a christian thing,
It is not our words ask any Lakota ;D ;D
Title: Re: The Word "Aho"
Post by: milehighsalute on November 15, 2013, 06:40:12 pm
The word Aho is the MASCULINE version of Lakota, Aho Mitakuye Oyasin........like "amen"..........to hear a woman say "Aho" is so wannabe and inappropriate.  Women should say "Iyay".  Iyay Mitakuye Oyasin.

Too funny we dont have an "amen".......................... thats a christian thing,
It is not our words ask any Lakota ;D ;D
besides didnt we already establish aho is NOT a lakota word?
Title: Re: The Word "Aho"
Post by: Defend the Sacred on November 15, 2013, 06:48:02 pm
The word Aho is the MASCULINE version of Lakota, Aho Mitakuye Oyasin........like "amen"..........to hear a woman say "Aho" is so wannabe and inappropriate.  Women should say "Iyay".  Iyay Mitakuye Oyasin.

Too funny we dont have an "amen".......................... thats a christian thing,
It is not our words ask any Lakota ;D ;D
besides didnt we already establish aho is NOT a lakota word?

We sure did ;)
Title: Re: The Word "Aho"
Post by: el bufalo blanco on June 18, 2014, 10:40:49 pm
Cloud, I am sure that el Coyote Cruz a Jicarilla Apache medicine man who adopted me into his tribe was not lying to me about the meaning of this word, Aho! means "It is good" or "It is true". Just because a German or Japanese word sounds like it doesn't mean it's not and American Indian word. I lived on the reservation for many years and no one I heard was using the word as an insult. A greeting yes just as the word Hoka-hey has a dual meaning, "It is a good day to live" when spoken to a friend but when used as a battle cry it means "It is a good day to die!" Many words used by Native American Indians don't even exist in the english language and a big thing to remember is that Indians didn't use many words like all the rest of the world. My medicine man told me that words are sacred so don't use them frivolously, just say what you mean and be done. Also the movie Indians saying "How." as a greeting, not true they were saying "Aho." and as usual the whites did not understand. I hope you get to see this and it helps you Blessings.
Title: Re: The Word "Aho"
Post by: Epiphany on June 18, 2014, 11:01:11 pm
el bufalo blanco, could you introduce yourself in the Member Introductions section, thanks.

You can tell us there about this "El Coyote Cruz".  Is this quote from you?

Quote
I was adopted by an Apache medicine man named El Coyote Cruz, the holy coyote. He taught me that survival is not a technique but a inborn will that we all have.
Title: Re: The Word "Aho"
Post by: Defend the Sacred on June 18, 2014, 11:06:49 pm
el Coyote Cruz a Jicarilla Apache medicine man who adopted me into his tribe

On adoption ceremonies: http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=1294.0 

I think you mean this person made you a relative, not that you were adopted unanimously by every member of the tribe?  It would be quite something for an entire tribe to agree to adopt someone.  We'd like to hear about that. :)
Title: Re: The Word "Aho"
Post by: earthw7 on June 20, 2014, 12:06:00 pm
Cloud, I am sure that el Coyote Cruz a Jicarilla Apache medicine man who adopted me into his tribe was not lying to me about the meaning of this word, Aho! means "It is good" or "It is true". Just because a German or Japanese word sounds like it doesn't mean it's not and American Indian word. I lived on the reservation for many years and no one I heard was using the word as an insult. A greeting yes just as the word Hoka-hey has a dual meaning, "It is a good day to live" when spoken to a friend but when used as a battle cry it means "It is a good day to die!" Many words used by Native American Indians don't even exist in the english language and a big thing to remember is that Indians didn't use many words like all the rest of the world. My medicine man told me that words are sacred so don't use them frivolously, just say what you mean and be done. Also the movie Indians saying "How." as a greeting, not true they were saying "Aho." and as usual the whites did not understand. I hope you get to see this and it helps you Blessings.
[/quote


Title: Re: The Word "Aho"
Post by: earthw7 on June 20, 2014, 06:45:36 pm
lol, start off my day laughing do people really believe this stuff! What is a Apache doing speaking Lakota? Then what is he doing Speaking Kiowa why don't he use his own language.
these people use pow-wow slang and add it to different tribes it is just too funny, we know our own language.
Aho is Kiowa greeting that was passed around by the pow-wow people then adopted by new age people, Hoke Hey does not mean it is good day to die lol,
it say "hurry up" duh! Anpetu Waste Good day
We don't say aho we say Hau! as a greeting.
These so called adopted people are always trying to be the experts on who we are
Title: Re: The Word "Aho"
Post by: milehighsalute on June 22, 2014, 04:50:49 am
you should have read whole post bufalo.......i know the powwow heavyweights real well, the cozads, the zotighs, the clevelands and the emhoolahs........big families in denver....and they drum all over the powwow world and travel everywhere.....for years, some of those drums are 80years old....they are all KIOWA......they along with other kiowa drumming heavyweights are the ones who brought the word AHO to the powwow world..many indians say aho!....i am one of them....but when dances with wolves fans started showing up to powwow they brought that word to their so called spiritual new agey events...............now none of them even know why they say it.....el bufalo blanco......why do i get the feeling you aint an injun?
Title: Re: The Word "Aho"
Post by: Oglala Lakota82 on July 28, 2014, 05:16:04 pm
I never heard my parents say aho. Now let me say this Aho is like Wado or Megwetch are international words anybody can say. In Lakota we say HAU yes it is true we say HAU. Aho is not Lakota it seems almost everybody who claims Native blood use Wado, Aho or Megwetch.
Title: Re: The Word "Aho"
Post by: Sparks on March 09, 2020, 12:41:47 am
I received more background on the info from a couple of new friends who say "Aho" is an Apache word. It was taught to them by their Apache teacher, Maria Yraceburu. I pointed them in the direction of NAFPS. Evidently they've been told that the fraud thing is all because the Apache nation isn't thrilled that Maria is teaching people who aren't Apache and that Maria says it needs to be passed down and taught to others if it's to survive.

I feel sick.

Interesting. Google actually lists a phone number for her. Yraceburu EarthWisdom - Escondido California - 760.445.6266 http://www.yraceburu.org/Maria.html (http://www.yraceburu.org/Maria.html)  Part of this website lists her as being Chiricahua Apache now. Or was she always claiming that in addition to the Quero Apache?

I googled the phone number. This woman has her fists in everything!

That woman has a thread in the forum:
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=1924.0
[Mary Jo Gardner AKA Maria Naylin AKA Maria Yraceburu, Lynda Tari AKA Lynda Yraceburu]
Title: Re: The Word "Aho"
Post by: milehighsalute on March 19, 2021, 05:22:51 pm
they are probably the same people who donated here

https://www.gofundme.com/f/save-shimas-smile