Online Etymology Dictionary

Indian (adj., n.): "inhabit of India or South Asia; pertaining to India," c. 1300 (noun and adjective), from Late Latin indianus, from India (see India). Applied to the aboriginal native inhabitants of the Americas from at least 1553 as a noun (1610s as an adjective), reflecting Spanish and Portuguese use, on the mistaken notion that America was the eastern end of Asia (it was also used occasionally 18c.-19c. of inhabitants of the Philippines and indigenous peoples of Australia and New Zealand. The Old English adjective was Indisc, and Indish (adj.) was common in 16c.

Red Indian, to distinguish the native Americans from inhabitants of India, is first attested 1831 in British English (Carlyle) but was not commonly used in North America. More than 500 modern phrases include Indian, most of them U.S. and most impugning honesty or intelligence, such as Indian gift:
An Indian gift is a proverbial expression, signifying a present for which an equivalent return is expected. [Thomas Hutchinson, "History of Massachusetts Bay," 1765]
Hence Indian giver "one who gives a gift and then asks for it back" (1848). Indian elephant is from c. 1600; Indian corn is from 1620s; to walk Indian file is from 1758. Indian club is from 1824 as a weapon, 1825 as exercise equipment (clubs were noted noted in Lewis & Clark, etc., as characteristic weapons of native warriors in the American West). Indian-head (adj.) in reference to U.S. copper pennies with a portrait of an Indian in profile, from 1862.
Nimzo-Indian (adj.): type of defensive opening in chess, 1935, in reference to Aron Nimzowitsch (1886-1935), Latvian-born Jewish chess genius who popularized it, a variation of the Indian defense (late 19c.) attributed to Indian chess player Moheschunder Bannerjee.
Indian summer (n.): "spell of warm, dry, hazy weather after the first frost" (happening anywhere from mid-September to nearly December, according to location), 1774, North American English (also used in eastern Canada), perhaps so called because it was first noted in regions then still inhabited by Indians, in the upper Mississippi valley west of the Appalachians, or because the Indians first described it to the Europeans. No evidence connects it with the color of fall leaves, or to a season of renewed Indian attacks on settlements due to renewed warm weather (a widespread explanation dating at least to the 1820s).

It is the American version of British All-Hallows summer, French été de la Saint-Martin (feast day Nov. 11), etc. Also colloquial was St. Luke's summer (or little summer), period of warm weather occurring about St. Luke's day (Oct. 18).
Indian Ocean: first attested 1515 in Modern Latin (Oceanus Orientalis Indicus), named for India, which projects into it; earlier it was the Eastern Ocean, as opposed to the Western Ocean (Atlantic) before the Pacific was surmised.
Indiana: by 1765 in English, a name given to the region north of the Ohio River mid-18c. by French explorers or settlers; see Indian + Latin-derived place-name suffix -ana. Organized as a U.S. territory 1800, admitted as a state 1816. Related: Indianian (1784).
Injun (n.): 1812 (from 1683 as Ingin), a spelling representing the early American English colloquial pronunciation of Indian (q.v.). Honest Injun as an asseveration of truthfuless is first recorded 1868, from the notion of assurance extracted from Indians of their lack of duplicity in a particular situation.
"Honest Injun?" inquired Mr. Wilder, using a Western phrase equivalent to demanding of the narrator of a story whether he is strictly adhering to the truth. ["The Genial Showman," London, 1870]
The noun phrase honest Indian itself is attested from 1676 in Massachusetts.
Amerind: 1899, coined by Maj. John Wesley Powell (1834-1902) at the Bureau of American Ethnology, where he was director, from American + Indian.
plains (n.): of the American Midwest, 1755 (in singular form from 1680s), see plain (n.). Plains Indian attested from 1844.
West Indies: Caribbean islands explored by Columbus, 1550s, reflecting the belief (or hope) that they were western outliers of the Indies of Asia. Related: West Indian, which is from 1580s in reference to the native inhabitants, 1650s in reference to European settlers there, and 1928 in reference to people of West Indian ancestry.
Dutch (adj.): late 14c., used first of Germans generally, after c. 1600 of Hollanders, from Middle Dutch duutsch, from Old High German duit-isc, corresponding to Old English þeodisc "belonging to the people," used especially of the common language of Germanic people, from þeod "people, race, nation," from Proto-Germanic *theudo "popular, national" (see Teutonic), from PIE root *teuta- "people" (source also of Old Irish tuoth "people," Old Lithuanian tauta "people," Old Prussian tauto "country," Oscan touto "community").

As a language name, first recorded as Latin theodice, 786 C.E. in correspondence between Charlemagne's court and the Pope, in reference to a synodical conference in Mercia; thus it refers to Old English. First reference to the German language (as opposed to a Germanic one) is two years later. The sense was extended from the language to the people who spoke it (in German, Diutisklant, ancestor of Deutschland, was in use by 13c.).

Sense narrowed to "of the Netherlands" in 17c., after they became a united, independent state and the focus of English attention and rivalry. In Holland, Duits (formerly duitsch) is used of the people of Germany. The Middle English sense survives in Pennsylvania Dutch, name of the people who immigrated from the Rhineland and Switzerland.

Since c. 1600, Dutch (adj.) has been a "pejorative label pinned by English speakers on almost anything they regard as inferior, irregular, or contrary to 'normal' (i.e., their own) practice" [Rawson]. E.g. Dutch treat (1887), Dutch uncle (1838), etc. -- probably exceeded in such usage only by Indian and Irish -- reflecting first British commercial and military rivalry and later heavy German immigration to U.S.
The Dutch themselves spoke English well enough to understand the unsavory connotations of the label and in 1934 Dutch officials were ordered by their government to stop using the term Dutch. Instead, they were to rewrite their sentences so as to employ the official The Netherlands. [Rawson]
Dutch oven is from 1769; OED lists it among the words describing things from Holland, but perhaps it is here used in the slighting sense. Dutch elm disease (1927) so called because it was first discovered in Holland (caused by fungus Ceratocystis ulmi).
Indonesia: "the East Indies," 1850, from Indo- "India" + Greek nesos "island" (see Chersonese) + -ia. Formerly called Indian Archipelago or East Indies Islands (see Indies). Related: Indonesian "of or from the East Indies" (1850).
blanket (n.): c. 1300, "bed-clothing; white woolen stuff," from Old French blanchet "light wool or flannel cloth; an article made of this material," diminutive of blanc "white" (see blank (adj.), which had a secondary sense of "a white cloth." Wet blanket (1830) is from the notion of a person who throws a damper on social situations like a wet blanket smothers a fire. In U.S. history, a blanket Indian (1859) was one using the traditional garment instead of wearing Western dress.
Only 26,000 blanket Indians are left in the United States. ["Atlantic Monthly," March 1906]
cigar (n.): 1730, from Spanish cigarro (source also of French cigare), probably from Maya sicar "to smoke rolled tobacco leaves," from si'c "tobacco;" or from or influenced by Spanish cigarra "grasshopper, cicada" (on resemblance of shape), from Vulgar Latin *cicala (source also of French cigale, Italian cigala). Cigar-box is from 1819; cigar-store from 1839; the wooden cigar-store Indian is from 1879, American English, but wooden images of feathered Indians or Negroes are mentioned outside tobacconists' shops in England by 1852, and are said to have been in earlier use on the Continent.
Blackamoors and other dark-skinned foreigners have always possessed considerable attractions as signs for tobacconists, and sometimes also for public-houses. Negroes, with feathered headdresses and kilts, smoking pipes, are to be seen outside tobacco shops on the Continent, as well as in England. [Jacob Larwood and John Camden Hotten, "The History of Signboards From the Earliest Times to the Present Day," London, 1867]
corn (n.1): "grain," Old English corn, from Proto-Germanic *kurnam "small seed" (source also of Old Frisian and Old Saxon korn "grain," Middle Dutch coren, German Korn, Old Norse korn, Gothic kaurn), from PIE root *gre-no- "grain" (source also of Old Church Slavonic zruno "grain," Latin granum "seed," Lithuanian žirnis "pea"). The sense of the Old English word was "grain with the seed still in" (as in barleycorn) rather than a particular plant.

Locally understood to denote the leading crop of a district. Restricted to the indigenous "maize" in America (c. 1600, originally Indian corn, but the adjective was dropped), usually wheat in England, oats in Scotland and Ireland, while Korn means "rye" in parts of Germany. Maize was introduced to China by 1550, it thrived where rice did not grow well and was a significant factor in the 18th century population boom there. Cornflakes first recorded 1907. Corned beef so called for the "corns" or grains of salt with which it is preserved; from verb corn "to salt" (1560s).
Indianapolis: city in Indiana, U.S., founded 1821, from Indiana + -polis.
gamelan (n.): "East Indian orchestra," 1817, from Javanese gamel "to handle."
muskeg (n.): kind of moss bog, 1865, from a Cree Indian word.
Natchez: Indian people of the lower Mississippi valley, of unknown origin.
Guarani (n.): South American Indian language, 1797, from a native word.
dory (n.1): "small, flat-bottomed boat," 1709, American English, perhaps from a West Indian or Central American Indian language.
travois (n.): type of American Indian transport, 1847, said to be ultimately from a Canadian Indian pronunciation of travail.
spliff (n.): conical cannabis cigarette, 1936, a West Indian word, of unknown origin.
anil (n.): West Indian shrub, 1580s, from French or Portuguese anil (see aniline).
Sauk (1): midwestern U.S. Indian tribe, 1722, alternative writing of Sac.
geoduck (n.): edible Pacific clam, 1883, perhaps from an American Indian word.
brave (n.): "North American Indian warrior," c. 1600, from brave (adj.), and compare bravo.
Muskoegan: North American Indian language family, 1891, from Creek maskoki.
cayuse (n.): "horse, Indian pony," 1841, American English, said to be a Chinook (native Pacific Northwest) word; also the name of an Indian group and language (1825), of unknown origin.
Bacardi: 1921, name for a brand of West Indian rum produced by Compania Ron Bacardi, originally of Cuba.
cushy (adj.): "easy," 1915, Anglo-Indian slang, from Hindi khush "pleasant, healthy, happy" + -y (2).
catalpa (n.): c. 1740, from an American Indian language of the Carolinas, perhaps Creek (Muskogean) /katalpa/, literally "head-wing."
hogan (n.): Navaho Indian dwelling, 1871, American English, from Athapaskan (Navaho) hoghan "dwelling, house."
grouper (n.): type of fish, 1690s, from Portuguese garupa, of unknown origin, probably from a South American Indian language, perhaps Tupi.
Gupta (adj.): 1871 in reference to the 4c.-6c. North Indian dynasty, from Chandragupta, name of the founder.
tabla (n.): pair of drums used in northern Indian music, 1865, from Hindi, from Arabic tabl "a drum played with the hand."
Seven Seas (n.): 1872, the Arctic, Antarctic, North Atlantic, South Atlantic, North Pacific, South Pacific, and Indian.
Slave: Indian tribe of northwestern Canada, 1789, from slave (n.), translating Cree (Algonquian) awahkan "captive, slave."
Tlingit (n.): Indian group in southwestern Alaska and adjacent parts of Canada, 1865, the people's word for themselves, literally "human beings."
corundum (n.): "very hard mineral," 1728, from Anglo-Indian, from Tamil kurundam "ruby sapphire" (Sanskrit kuruvinda), which is of unknown origin.
boson (n.): class of subatomic particles, named for Indian physicist Satyendra Nath Bose (1894-1974) + subatomic particle suffix -on.
gunman (n.): 1620s, from gun (n.) + man (n.). In early American English use, especially of Indian warriors.
Crow: Indian tribe of the American Midwest, the name is a rough translation of their own name, Apsaruke.
dat: representing the pronunciation of that in West Indian, Irish, or African-American vernacular speech, from 1680s.
Indus: river in Asia, from Sanskrit sindhu "river." The southern constellation, created 1603 by Bayer, represents "an Indian," not the river.
rainmaker (n.): also rain-maker, 1775, in reference to American Indian tribal magicians, from rain (n.) + agent noun of make (v.).
half-caste (adj.): 1789, Anglo-Indian, in reference to the offspring of a European father and an Asian mother, from half + caste.
abalone (n.): type of marine shell, 1850, American English, from Spanish abulon from Costanoan (a California coastal Indian language family) aluan "red abalone."
pueblo (n.): "Indian village," 1808, from Spanish pueblo "village, small town; people, population," from Latin populum, accusative of populus "people" (see people (n.)).
tamale (n.): 1856, false singular from tamales (1690s), from American Spanish tamales, plural of tamal, from Nahuatl tamal, tamalli, a food made of Indian corn and meat.
Quechua (n.): Indian people of Peru and surrounding regions, 1811, from Spanish, from Quechua kechua "plunderer, destroyer." Also the name of their language. Related: Quechuan.