Hi‧a‧wath‧a /ˌhaɪəˈwɒθə $ -ˈwɔː-/
a Native American chief who, in the 16th century, helped to unite the Iroquois tribes into a single group called the Five Nations. He is the subject of a long poem by Longfellow called The Song of Hiawatha (1855), and many Americans know the lines: ...By the shore of gitche Gumee,/By the shining Big-Sea-Water,/Stood the wigwam of Nokomis,/Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis...

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲