Here is a screen caption of a user I follow on Twitter: Anishinabemowin. Their profile reads:

Free resource to learn Anishinaabemowin, Saulteaux, Ojibway and Chippewa

This particular word in the above image translates to the “Land of the Long Knives.” I remember learning about a related word when I was younger. The person told me that sometimes we can refer to “white people” as “gitchi-mookiman” which she told me, meant “Big Knife.” She went on to tell me that it literally was referring to the long knives white people carried with them when they arrived. She also told me that they were also referred to as this because they used their long knives to “cut up the land.” Now I think they probably used those “long knives” to do a lot more than to just “cut up the land.”

Also, I am not sure if the Land of the Long Knives is relating to North America or not, because I don’t think North America belongs to “the Long Knives.”

Note: Obviously, the word presented in the image is a variant or different dialect from the word I was taught. That is a given for any language, whether the language is Aboriginal or not. Gitchi-mookiman is pronounced “get-chi mook-i-mun” as I was taught.

Update: I had a friend tell me that the name Chimookimaning refers to the Bayonets that were used during the war of 1812 and refers to only America. Check out my friend, Andrew Manitowabi on his twitter HERE!