Three Fingers Cheyenne
Cheyenne Indian History
Cheyenne (from the Sioux name Sha-hi’yena, Shai-ena, or (Teton) Shai-ela, ‘people of alien speech,’ from sha’ia, ‘to speak a strange language’). An important Plains tribe of the great Algonquian family. They call themselves Dzǐ’tsǐǐstäs, apparently nearly equivalent to ‘people alike,’ i.e. ‘our people’ from ǐtsǐstau. ‘alike’ or ‘like this’ (animate); (ehǐstă, ‘he is from, or of, the same kind’–Peter); by a slight change of accent it might also mean ‘gashed ones’, or possibly ‘tall people.’ The tribal form as here given is the third person plural.
