Origin of Name
"Legends of the ki-tu'-wa people say that the name was given after seven of the wisest men (the seven priests of the ah-ni-ku-ta-ni) of the ancient Cherokees went to the highest peak and fasted for seven days and nights, asking the Creator for guidance. This peak is known today as "Clingman's Dome." On the seventh night of their fast, the Creator told them, "You shall be ki-tu'-wa (the spiritual center of the Cherokee People)." - Benny Smith, The Keetoowah Society of Cherokee Indians, Masters Thesis, Northwestern State College, (Alva, OK: Northwestern State College, 1967)
Many Cherokee groups still call themselves the "Keetoowah (ki-tu'-wa) people." Originally the Cherokee People called themselves Aniyvwiyai, which means the principal people. "Back in Georgia from whence the Cherokees originally migrated to the Indian Territory in 1838 and 1839, the old Keetoowah group (City of Keetoowah) was dying out as early as 1835," stated John L. Springston, Tulsa Tribune, Dec. 28, 1928). Springston had served as a clerk and court reporter in the Saline District before Oklahoma statehood and was a Keetoowah Society Member.
Read more about this topic: Original Keetoowah Society
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“For, though the origin of most of our words is forgotten, each word was at first a stroke of genius, and obtained currency, because for the moment it symbolized the world to the first speaker and to the hearer. The etymologist finds the deadest word to have been once a brilliant picture.”
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