“Bury the hatchet” is an idiom meaning to make peace with an opponent. It originated from Native American tribes burying their weapons as a symbol of truce, and was later used figuratively to describe peace between nations and individuals.
“Bury the hatchet” is an English idiom meaning to make peace or settle differences with an opponent. Its first recorded use dates back to the 18th century, although 17th-century texts refer to the practice behind the phrase. The idiom refers to a Native American practice of literally burying a tomahawk, or hatchet, in the ground as a symbol of a peace settlement between tribes.
Many Native American tribes had a practice of burying, hiding, or destroying their weapons in times of peace or as a symbol of a truce. According to tradition, it originated from the Iroquois. The truce between the Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, and Seneca tribes, henceforth collectively known as the Iroquois, is said to have been accompanied by the tribes burying their weapons under a white pine. It was believed that an underground stream miraculously swept them away.
Native Americans not only buried the hatchet when making peace with each other, but also when making peace with Europeans. After American independence, the new government continued to do this with Native American tribes as a sign of peace. A practice similar to burying the ax was used as recently as 1990 in the Oka Crisis, a land dispute between the Mohawk tribe and the Canadian city of Oka, Quebec. The Mohawks burned their weapons as a sign of the cessation of hostilities.
In English, “bury the hatchet” was originally used simply to describe the Native American practice. In the late 18th century, the phrase came to be used figuratively to describe any peace between nations. It was not until the early 19th century that the idiom came to be used to refer to the creation of peace between two individuals. While not as common, phrases meaning the opposite – such as “pick up the hatchet” and “unearth the hatchet” – are occasionally used in English. French and Dutch, two other European languages that have been influenced by contact with Native Americans, also have phrases with a similar meaning that are used in much the same way as their English counterpart.
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