heishe

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Variously said to be from a word for "white shell",[1] "shell",[2] or "shell bead"[3] in Eastern Keres [Term?].

Noun

heishe pl (plural only)

  1. Small disc- or tube-shaped beads made from shells or stones, primarily associated with the Kewa Pueblo.

References
  1. Theodore R. Frisbie (1974) “Hishi as Money in the Puebloan Southwest”, in Theodore R. Frisbie, editor, Collected Papers in Honor of Florence Hawley Ellis, Norman: Hooper Publishing Company, published 1975, →LCCN, page 123: “Hishi is a Kersan word meaning, "white shell." Interestingly, it also referes to a ruin occupied by people ancestral to San Felipe Pueblo (Benedict 1931: 186-187).” The citation for the book referenced is Ruth Benedict (1931) “VI. True Stories”, in Tales of the Cochiti Indians (Smithsonian Institution Bureau of Americcan Ethnology Bulletin; 98)‎, Washington D.C.: United States Government Publishing Office, page 186: “At Kubéro (Pojoaque) the Tewa were living (who afterwards went to Hopi). They came down against White Shell Pueblo (Hishi; old site of San Felipe) and overcame the people and destroyed the pueblo.”
  2. Paula A. Baxter, Allison Bird-Romero (2000) “heishi, hesche, hieschi, hishi”, in Encyclopedia of Native American Jewelery‎, The Oryx Press, →ISBN, page 69: “In Keresan (one of the Pueblo languages), "heishi" is the word for "shell."”
  3. Steven Ford, Leslie Dierks (1996) “Introduction”, in Creating with Polymer Clay‎, Lark Books, →ISBN, page 10: “The heishi technique is an ancient method popular among many cultures for making disk-shaped beads, primarily from shells. The word comes from a Pueblo Indian word for shell bead […]”
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