Definitions For Heishe

Noun

{{en-plural noun}} Small disc- or tube-shaped beads made from shells or stones, primarily associated with the {{w, Kewa Pueblo}}.

Alternative forms

{{alter, en, heishi, hesche, hishi, hieschi}}

Etymology

Variously said to be from a word for "white shell",{{cite-book, en, author=Theodore R. Frisbie, editor=Theodore R. Frisbie, title=Collected Papers in Honor of Florence Hawley Ellis, location=Norman, publisher=Hooper Publishing Company, year=1974, chapter=Hishi as Money in the Puebloan Southwest, year_published=1975, page=123, text=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)., lccn=74-31812}} The citation for the book referenced is {{cite-book, en, author=Ruth Benedict, chapter=VI. True Stories, chapterurl=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015029509208?urlappend=%3Bseq=199, title=Tales of the Cochiti Indians, series=Smithsonian Institution Bureau of Americcan Ethnology Bulletin, seriesvolume=98, url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015029509208, location=Washington D.C., publisher=United States Government Publishing Office, year=1931, page=186, pageurl=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015029509208?urlappend=%3Bseq=200, text=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.}} "shell",{{cite-book, author=Paula A. Baxter, author2=Allison Bird-Romero, entry=heishi, hesche, hieschi, hishi, entryurl=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781573561280/page/69, title=Encyclopedia of Native American Jewelery, url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781573561280, publisher=The Oryx Press, year=2000, page=69, pageurl=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781573561280/page/69, isbn=1573561282, text=In Keresan (one of the Pueblo languages), "heishi" is the word for "shell."}} or "shell bead"{{cite-book, author=Steven Ford, author2=Leslie Dierks, chapter=Introduction, chapterurl=https://archive.org/details/creatingwithpoly00ford/page/7, title=Creating with Polymer Clay, url=https://archive.org/details/creatingwithpoly00ford, publisher=Lark Books, year=1996, page=10, pageurl=https://archive.org/details/creatingwithpoly00ford/page/10, isbn=093727495X, text=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 {{...}}}} in {{der, en, kee}}.