The Word "Aho"

[Cloud]

The word "Aho" seems to be popping up in more pagan communities and I'm curious to find out it's true meaning. I've been told it's Apache, and Cherokee, and Dine, and, and, and. I've Googled it and come up with even more confusing contradictions. Now I'm wondering if it's just a word a fraud made up because it "sounded" native.

In one seminar I attended all the participants were asked to share and then finish off with "Aho". When I just said "Thank you" instead, I was accused of having a problem with native spirituality. 

Help, please?

[Paul123]

Try Japanese.

[Renee]

Try Japanese.

this is funny
japanese: "aho"
german translation: "idiot"
http://209.85.135.132/search?q=cache:RO73THwMgAMJ:www.schulportal.bremerhaven.de/humboldtzeitung/japanisch.htm+japanisch+aho&cd=1&hl=de&ct=clnk&gl=at

[Renee]

Try Japanese.

japanisch - deutsch
japanese - german
aho - idiot 
http://www.schulportal.bremerhaven.de/humboldtzeitung/japanisch.htm

[TRIBALMOONS@yahoo.com]

This is what I found :


Yahoo Answers

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker
"Aho" is Lakhota and has been borrowed into many other North American languages as a result of hearing the word at pow-wows in the 20th century. "Aho" means "yes, I agree". It is used in prayers in somewhat the same way that "amen" is used ("amen" means "i agree"), but it is not used exclusively in prayers. It is used in any situation where a discussion is being conducted.
Source(s):
I am a Linguistics professor at a major US university

   

Some say it is Cree and Ojibway

[earthw7]

I asked around and it is not Lakota and when I began researching the word first pop up at pow-wows in the 1930s. People told me it was Lakota but i am Lakota and never here it on the rez here so i started to ask and that is what i was told. I do hear the word from urban Indians so it could be just one of those words. So far no-one wants to claim it.

I suppose a word like aho means our spirituality I don't think so.
so many people make up thing in this newager stuff

[Superdog]

I asked around and it is not Lakota and when I began researching the word first pop up at pow-wows in the 1930s. People told me it was Lakota but i am Lakota and never here it on the rez here so i started to ask and that is what i was told. I do hear the word from urban Indians so it could be just one of those words. So far no-one wants to claim it.

I suppose a word like aho means our spirituality I don't think so.
so many people make up thing in this newager stuff

I've never even thought about it before....but I associate it with Oklahoma....maybe Kiowas.  Don't really know though.

Superdog

[taraverti]

The word "Aho" seems to be popping up in more pagan communities and I'm curious to find out it's true meaning. I've been told it's Apache, and Cherokee, and Dine, and, and, and. I've Googled it and come up with even more confusing contradictions. Now I'm wondering if it's just a word a fraud made up because it "sounded" native.

In one seminar I attended all the participants were asked to share and then finish off with "Aho". When I just said "Thank you" instead, I was accused of having a problem with native spirituality. 

Help, please?

  I've participated in trainings that would end with a talking circle, where the protocol was to end with the word "ho!" I've always gone with the flow on this one, (one must pick one's battles!) as the overall intention and quality of the training was excellent, and no real spirituality was being used or misrepresented.

Besides, back in the '80's in Philadelphia, "Ho!" was a common sallutation or call out, kind of like "Hey!" among younger folks. I don't hear it anymore, but it was all the rage when my kids were younger. I think that came out of South Philly. So those two letters certainly are not exclusive to whatever supposed native language they come from.

It would be really funny if it turned out not to be from any native language at all. For some reason it will make it even more fun to speak it at the end of those training sessions. Seems we've been acting like Rocky or calling each other cheap prostitutes!
I guess "ho!" takes less time to say than "I'm done now"

Awaiting clarification on this one.

[Cloud]

Try Japanese.

I'm glad I asked!    When I read this response I spoke to a co-worker whose mother is Japanese (born, raised & spent most of her young adult years in Japan). Her mother said Aho means pretty much the way it sounds. Aho - A$$hole. Also stupid or idiot.   

If anyone does find a true native connection, I'd still love to hear it.

Thank you, all !

[debbieredbear]

I was told in around 1972. John Emhoolah told me that when he was a teacher at the University of Washington. I also heard that from 2 other Kiowa people. ALl three spoke the language so I always thought that it was Kiowa. But that is only what I have heard.

[Sizzle Flambé]

I asked around and it is not Lakota....

This Lakota-English/English-Lakota Dictionary doesn't list aho, but it does list haho = "Look at this!" or "Hey, look here!"; and hahó hahó = Gratitude and Joy for a gift (p.xxxii; or see page 76); and ho = "Yes, all right" (interjection of affirmation).

So it's not that one word means all these things; they are just homonyms, sound-alikes.

"Hello" is hau, "Amen" is nunwe.

[wolfhawaii]

"Aho" is pretty common in powwow circles and has been adopted by the "talking circle" bunch; I heard it was from the Kiowa. "Ho" is used as an affirmative in certain Cherokee ceremonial circumstances. Now I guess we'll hear from the wannabes.......Ho! Ho! Ho! I guess Santa was Cherokee

[Defend the Sacred]

"Aho" is pretty common in powwow circles and has been adopted by the "talking circle" bunch; I heard it was from the Kiowa. "Ho" is used as an affirmative in certain Cherokee ceremonial circumstances. Now I guess we'll hear from the wannabes.......Ho! Ho! Ho! I guess Santa was Cherokee

"Ho" was the standard affirmative, multi-purpose response used by Vincent LaDuke/Sun Bear's crew ("The Bear Tribe"), and by people of every imaginable ethnicity (but mostly white nuagers) at his "Medicine Wheel" gatherings. People left those events "Ho"-ing like Santa.

From that gathering in 1984 I watched it spread through all sorts of Neopagan and Nuage circles, with people saying it repeatedly whenever they wanted to affirm something that someone said. It was especially common when the nons were mimicking an NDN ceremony, though they said it in other sorts of rituals, too. *cringes in retrospect*

[Moma_porcupine]

Doing a google search on "Kiowa" and "Aho" it sounds like Aho is a Kiowa word for Thankyou.
I copied what I found below, but when I click on both these links what was listed in the google search doesn't seem to come up .

[PDF] Microsoft PowerPoint - Kiowa Tribe Env Overview for EPA DVC Part I  File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
AHO means thank you in our Kiowa language. • Thank you for sharing your concerns and knowledge for our Mother Earth and the environment which provides ...
www.epa.gov/Region6/6dra/oejta/tribalaffairs/dvc/kiowapresentation.pdf

Religion-Centered Anecdotes of Ft. Sill  by JT Bratcher - 1964
the Kiowas all jumped up and began yelling "Aho-aho, aho-aho!"-meaning. "Thank you!" The interpreter had got things confused and the Indians thought ...
www.jstor.org/stable/1520673

So I guess Aho probably is Thank you in the Kiowa language.

But I am left wondering how and why this Kiowa word would become such a common expression  in the pan Indian community? Is "Aho" a modification of Sun Bear using the word "Ho"? Or was there maybe a very respected Kiowa Spiritual leader who used this word and it spread? Or was the word Aho used in some popular movie like Billy Jack or Little Big Man or Powwow Highway and it spread from there ?

This seems like a good example of how pan indian versions of indigenous cultures can take root and then become widespread and then suddenly one day people realize no one actually knows what they are doing, or saying or why... 

I guess then people say Oh oh
 

[earthw7]

Thank you I knew it was not lakota