[Algonquiana] Algonquian terms for Siouan peoples

[Ryan Kasak]

Dear all,

I've just posed this question on the Siouan listserv, and thought I'd ask
the same here. I'm looking for names for Siouan peoples (specifically the
Mandan) in Algonquian languages.

For some varieties of Cree, we see something like *pwâta *for the
Lakota/Dakota. For Ojibwa, I've found *bwaan *for that same group. In the
1730s when the French trader Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La
Vérendrye encountered the Mandan, his Cree interpreter called them
*Ouachipouennes
*[sic], meaning something like "Sioux who go underground," in reference to
the earth lodges in which they lived. Is this term still used in Cree to
refer to the Mandan? What about other Siouan groups like the Hidatsa or the
Crow?

The online Cheyenne dictionary gives *Tsé-heše'émȧheonėstse* "one who has a
dirt house" for the Mandan and *Óoetane *"crow person" for the Crow. These
etymologies are clear. However, the etymologies of *Hóheehe *for the
Assiniboine and *Ho'óhomō'e *for Lakota/Dakota are opaque to me (though
they may not be opaque to someone else!).

I would welcome any input anyone might have regarding this issue.

Best,

Ryan Kasak
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