Ke-mo sah-bee
Ultimately derived from giimoozaabi, an Ojibwe and Potawatomi word that probably meant "scout", it is sometimes translated as "trusty scout" or "faithful friend".[1][2] Its use has become so widespread that it was entered into Webster's New Millennium Dictionary in 2002.[2]
In the 2013 film The Lone Ranger, Tonto states that it means "wrong brother" in Comanche.
Spelling
Fran Striker, writer of the original Lone Ranger radio program, spelled the word "ke-mo sah-bee." However, the spelling kemo sabe (or kemosabe) is by far the most common in popular culture, receiving approximately 180,000 hits on Google search in April 2011, as opposed to ke-mo sah-bee's 15,800. The word was entered into Webster's New Millennium Dictionary (edited by Barbara Ann Kipfer) in 2002 under the spelling "kemosabe."[2]
Meaning and origin
There are many theories about the origin and meaning of this word. A common story[3] is that it derives from a Spanish phrase such as "Quien sabe" or "quien no sabe," meaning "who knows?" or "he who does not know". This is implausible because Jim Jewell, director of The Lone Ranger from 1933 to 1939, took the phrase from Kamp Kee-Mo Sah-Bee, a boys' camp on Mullett Lake established by Charles W. Yeager (Jewell's father-in-law) in 1916.[4] Yeager himself probably took the term from Ernest Thompson Seton, one of the founders of the Boy Scouts of America, who had given the meaning "scout runner" to Kee-mo-sah'-bee in his 1912 book "The Book of Woodcraft and Indian Lore".[5]
Kamp Kee-Mo Sah-Bee was in an area inhabited by the Ottawa, who spoke a dialect of Ojibwe. John D. Nichols and Earl Nyholm's A Concise Dictionary of Minnesota Ojibwe defines the Ojibwe word giimoozaabi as "he peeks" (and, in theory, "he who peeks"), making use of the prefix giimoo(j)-, "secretly"; Rob Malouf, now an associate professor of linguistics at San Diego State University, suggested that "giimoozaabi" may indeed have also meant scout (i.e., "one who sneaks").[6]
The etymology provided by Webster's New Millennium Dictionary is, "Has various meanings in Native American languages."[2]
Other uses
- Khemosabi was the name of a champion Arabian horse. His owners popularized his show career with a series of Lone Ranger themed cartoons.
- Kemosabe Records, American record label owned by Sony
- Song and album titles
- Kemosabe is a 2013 song by the British indie pop band Everything Everything
- "Kemosabe" is a song by T.I., Doe B, Young Dro, Birdman, and B.o.B released from the G.D.O.D. (Get Dough Or Die) mixtape in 2013 [7][8]
- Kimosabe is a 1999 album by Kim Mitchell
- "Kimosabe" is the title of BT's song from the Japanese edition of Emotional Technology album, also featured in video games Need for Speed: Underground and Amplitude.
References
- ↑ Striker, Jr., Fran. "What Does 'Kemo Sabe' Really Mean ?". Old Time Radio. Retrieved November 12, 2008.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "Kemosabe". Webster's New Millennium Dictionary of English, Preview Edition. Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. Retrieved November 12, 2008.
- ↑ Adams, Cecil. "In the old Lone Ranger series, what did "kemosabe" mean?". The Straight Dope. Retrieved June 1, 2013.
- ↑ The Handbook of Private Schools. 1916.
- ↑ Seton, Ernest Thompson (1912). The Book of Woodcraft and Indian Lore.
- ↑ Adams, Cecil (July 18, 1997). "In the old Lone Ranger series, what did "kemosabe" mean?". The Straight Dope. Retrieved 2011-11-28.
- ↑ http://www.vibe.com/article/new-video-doe-b-young-dro-birdman-bob-ti-kemosabe
- ↑ https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/kemosabe-feat.-doe-b-t.i./id686076519
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