Tamanend

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A seventeenth-century leader of the Lenape people of the Delaware Valley, later revered as a legendary patron saint of America
2. Name of a historical Lenape chief whose reputation as a wise and peaceful leader grew into an American folk legend
3. A Native American chief of the Lenape nation, remembered in colonial and early American lore as a symbol of virtue and liberty

Etymology: A Lenape leader named Tamanend became a figure of legend, and his name later gave American politics a byword. Accounts describe him as a chief of the Delaware people, and a later tradition credits him with friendly dealings with William Penn, though the story of any such treaty is poorly documented. Admirers turned him into a saint, and his name spread through patriotic and fraternal societies. The best-known descendant of the name is the Tammany Society in New York City, whose members took him as their patron. Its political organization, known as Tammany Hall, became one of the most powerful urban political machines in the United States, and "Tammany" came to stand for machine politics more generally. The meaning of the name itself is uncertain. Proposed Lenape meanings such as "affable" or "pleasant" rest on limited evidence, so the sense of the name remains unsettled.