Ke-mo sah-bee

Ke-mo sah-bee (/ˌkiːmoʊˈsɑːbiː/; often spelled kemo sabe, kemosabe or kimosabe) is the term used by the fictional Native American sidekick Tonto as the "Native American" name for the Lone Ranger in the American television and radio programs The Lone Ranger. It has become a common catchphrase.

Ultimately derived from gimoozaabi, an Ojibwe and Potawatomi word that may mean "he/she looks out in secret",^[1] it has been occasionally translated as "trusty scout" (the first Lone Ranger TV episode, 1941) or "faithful friend".^[2]

In the 2013 film The Lone Ranger, Tonto states that it means "wrong brother" in Comanche, a seemingly tongue-in-cheek translation within the context of the plot.

Meaning and origin[]

Jim Jewell, director of The Lone Ranger from 1933 to 1939, took the phrase from Kamp Kee-Mo Sah-Bee, a boys' camp on Mullett Lake in Michigan, established by Charles W. Yeager (Jewell's father-in-law) in 1916.^[3] Yeager himself probably took the term from Ernest Thompson Seton, one of the founders of the Boy Scouts of America, who had given the meaning "scout runner" to Kee-mo-sah'-bee in his 1912 book "The Book of Woodcraft and Indian Lore".^[4]

Kamp Kee-Mo Sah-Bee was in an area inhabited by the Ottawa, who speak a language which is mutually comprehensible with Ojibwe. John D. Nichols and Earl Nyholm's A Concise Dictionary of Minnesota Ojibwe defines the Ojibwe word giimoozaabi as "he peeks" (and, in theory, "he who peeks"), making use of the prefix giimoo(j)-, "secretly"; Rob Malouf, now an associate professor of linguistics at San Diego State University, suggested that "giimoozaabi" may indeed have also meant scout (i.e., "one who sneaks").^[5]

Another possible interpretation to Kemo Sabe is in reference to the Lone Ranger's mask, which could be interpreted as "he who peeks" from behind the mask.

Other uses[]

• Features in the song “The Lone Ranger”, a song by the British band Quantum Jump in 1979.
• Featured in the lyrics of "Apache (Jump on It)", a 1981 song by The Sugarhill Gang.^[6]
• Referenced in "Windtalkers", a 2002 movie about Navajo code talkers during World War II.
• Referenced in the song "Kemosabe",^[7] a 2013 single by Manchester band Everything Everything from their album, Arc.
• Used in famous New Orleans rap group Big Tymers song "Big Ballin'" (1998). Which was sampled for the TI & Hustle Gang song "Kemosabe" (2014).
• Used by Owen Wilson and Jackie Chan in the film Shanghai Noon (2000).
• Spoken by the character Magnus Buchan in the 1998 film Rushmore.^[8]
• Used in the recurring Saturday Night Live Digital Short "Laser Cats!" by Nitro (Bill Hader) and Admiral Spaceship (Andy Samberg).

References[]

Further reading[]

• Jay Silverheels biography: TONTO: The Man in Front of the Mask