Research source

In the Algonkin tongue the word for Giant Rabbit is Missabos, compounded from mitchi or missi, great, large,…

Date of account: Published 1882
Source: American Hero-Myths: A Study in the Native Religions of the Western Continent
Reference: American Hero-Myths: A Study in the Native Religions of the Western Continent · selected passage 17
Rights: public_domain
Language: English synthesis drawing on Indigenous American sources
Translation: Daniel G. Brinton
Record updated: 2026-08-24

Record summary

In the Algonkin tongue the word for Giant Rabbit is Missabos, compounded from mitchi or missi, great, large, and wabos, a rabbit

Published source text

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Source passage

Source text · mention only

In the Algonkin tongue the word for Giant Rabbit is _Missabos_, compounded from _mitchi_ or _missi_, great, large, and _wabos_, a rabbit. But there is a whole class of related words, referring to widely different perceptions, which sound very much like _wabos_. They are from a general root _wab_, which goes to form such words of related signification as _wabi_, he sees, _waban_, the east, the Orient, _wabish_, white, _bidaban_ (_bid-waban_), the dawn, _wában_, daylight, _wasseia_, the light, and many others. Here is where we are to look for the real meaning of the name _Missabos_. It originally meant the Great Light, the Mighty Seer, the Orient, the Dawn--which you please, as all distinctly refer to the one original idea, the Bringer of Light and Sight, of knowledge and life.

Historical context

Contextual commentary · mention only

This material belongs to a folklore tradition. Story type, collector, community, transmission and literary editing matter when comparing it with other sources.

Modern context

Contextual commentary · mention only

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