DCHP-1 Online

ogema(h) < Algonk. ; see note This term has enjoyed wide use for many years throughout the Indian country, apparently being borrowed from several Algonkian languages in several dialectal forms, for the spelling and pronunciation variants are numerous. The main sources appear to be Cree okemaw, ukemaw and Ojibwa ojimaw, with the meanings of def. 1 below. The spellings recorded include huchemaw, ochima, hogama, oghema, ogima, oogamou, okema, okemow, okimow, okomow, ookemow, ookima, otsima. All of these variants have been cross-referred to this entry for convenience, the above entry-word being somewhat more frequently encountered, although the most recent evidence seems to favor the Cree forms of the o(o)kemow type.

• 1 n. chief; war chief; great man.

  • 1743  (1949)  A Captain or Chief U'ke maw.
  • 1791  (1904)  [Vocab.] Ojémaw, or Ókemaw Chief]
  • 1820  (1922)  A person appointed to head a war party, is called a chief, or O-ke-maw. He must have given distinguished proof of his bravery, prudence and cunning, in former war expeditions, in order that he should be considered qualified to fill this post.
  • 1877  To show due respect to so great an O-ghe-mah, a newspaper was spread before him as a tablecloth, and a plate of fried pork placed on it, with a huge slapjack or thick pancake made of flour and fat. . . .
  • 1915  The chief, ogima, was a man chosen for life . . . on account of his strength and wisdom.

• 2a n. of white men: an important official; master; boss.

  • 1875  (1888)  At every point I met with a most cordial reception from our Indian friends, who were all delighted to hear that the "Great Ogeemah" was going to treat with them for their lands.
  • 1885  The news--which would immediately have spread like wild fire--of the defeat of the "okomow" of the police, would in all probability have induced the revolt of thousands instead of hundreds of Indians.
  • 1955  "Okemow," they said, which she knew meant Master. "We must portage here."
  • 1963  . . . the product was classified as "Bourgeois" pemmican, suitable only to the palates and supposedly refined tastes of the "Ookimows" (chiefs) among the pale faces.

• 2b n. of white men: in fur trade parlance (often ironically), chief trader; boss.

  • 1916  . . . this "Ougamou" of the dog-whip . . . worked out the gospel of success and self-help as no man ever did in that part of North America.
  • 1954  In his own estimation he was very much the Okema, but that didn't hurt his business with the natives . . . accustomed to meeting that attitude in the Company's trading posts.
  • 1956  Now the Ookemow is leaving, who will write letters for us--to the Indian Agent, to the Bishop, to the fish and game authorities?