Date
Meaning & History
This is the name of a protagonist, a Cree chief's son, in the novel 'Lost in the Barrens' (also sometimes called 'Two Against the North') by Canadian author Farley Mowat, first published in 1956. It won a Governor General's Award in 1956 and the Canada Library Association Book of the Year for Children Award in 1958.Mowat likely invented this name for his novel. In Lakota, awasin (oyás’iŋ) means 'all, all of a kind, all as individuals but as units together', in Cree tawasin means 'it is a small space' and sakawasin means 'it is a bit narrow'; none of these are names however.