Sequoyah was a Cherokee man, born in the late 1700s — no one is sure of the year; some books guess around 1760, others later — who died in 1843. He is remembered because he invented a way to write the Cherokee language, so his people could put their speech and their way of life on paper. It was not an alphabet like English, with one small letter for one small sound. It was a set of signs for whole syllables, and in a short time many Cherokee people learned to read and write it. His English name is borrowed from Cherokee ᏎᏉᏯ (sequoya), earlier ᏍᏏᏉᏯ (ssiquoya). Cherokee speakers have often explained it as coming from words that mean, literally, “a beast is inside.” You will see Sequoyah in history books. He is a person, not a tree.

塞闊雅（切羅基族、為族人發明音節文字的人）