Sannup

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A married man or husband, a term used especially among certain Native American peoples of North America
2. The word for a husband or married man in some Native American communities, borrowed into English from an Algonquian language
3. Refers to an adult male who is married, a term once used for husbands among some Indigenous North American groups

Etymology: "Sannup" is an English word for a Native American man, and it came into English from the languages of the Algonquian peoples of New England. It was borrowed from Penobscot "senabe," meaning "man," a term closely related to Abenaki "sanôba," which carries the same sense. The word thus reflects an early encounter between English speakers and the Indigenous languages of the region, where a word for an adult male person was taken over as a loanword. Its history shows a narrowing of meaning. Because English speakers borrowed it as a label for Native men in contact situations, the term came to be used in contexts that set Indigenous men apart from settlers, and it is now regarded as an archaic and offensive term that is rarely used today.