What does the word “Yosemite” mean?
“Yosemite” is derived from a Southern Miwok word “Yehemite,” which translates “some among them are killers,” which is probably how Mariposa-area Indians referred to the people who lived in Yosemite Valley. Many southern Miwok people in Yosemite intermarried with Paiute people from the eastern Sierra. Traditionally, Paiute and Miwok were enemies. Thus, when Mariposa Indians referred to people in the Valley, they commented that some among the (the Paiute) were killers.
