etymology of MANDAN

[Koontz John E]

On Wed, 4 Aug 1999, Jimm G GoodTracks wrote:
> "Nu^eta" (e=short e).  Edward Kennard records in 1935:  "We are Mandans=
> NuNu'^etarosh."

I think, on reflection, that this is the term I've run into, and I'm
grateful to Jimm for reminding me of it.  I didn't realize it was a
village name.  Kennard's verb is an inflected version of this:

  ruN-ruN?etar-    o?s^   (I think that would be the Hollovian version.)
  we  (are) Mandan INDICATIVE

The final r of nu?eta (ruN?eta) is a fact of the morphology that appears
when the -(o)?s^ suffix is added.

> The Hidatsa were known by a number of terms, including Gro Ventres/ Big
> Bellies, Minataries and a collective term "Mirokac" which included the
> River Crows.   It seems that "mi'nitari" is the Mandan name for the
> Hidatsa, which oral history records states that a Mandan came upon a
> Hidatsa on northside of Missouri river and, asked: "What are you?
> (Nima'tawo^oro^osha)".   The Hidatsa did not understand, and replied:  "I
> want to cross the water.  (wirihewa:ta:riwa:wa'hec)".  So the Mandan
> thought:  "He's (saying) he's a Manitaree. (Mani'ta:niro:te^esh)."  The
> two languages are not mutually intelligible.

A fact that is easy to lose sight of, since all Mandan speakers today are
bilingual in Hidatsa, and something approaching this has been true for
some time.

Note that this term mVnVtari is more or less a match for the variants of
Mandan in various native languages, if the mVnV is changed to mVmV.  That
is no kind of regular change, but nothing seems to be regular about this
term.  And a syncopated mVntari ~ mVntani isn't too far from "Mandan,"
either. This is quite speculative, of course, though early visitors were a
bit vague on the distinction between Mandan and Hidatsa, and it's not
implausible that a term for one could be applied to the other.  The
problem is really the lack of evidence for t,,,he changes posited.

> village) "Awatixa" or "Awaxawi".  It was explained to me (by VYB, KYB &
> CB) that "Hira:'tsa" is short form for "Wirahatsitati' (Willow Tree
> Houses)" village.

This sort of explanation, while not at all impossible, and for all I know
well documented in this case, is the kind of thing that, when unsupported
by some historical evidence, makes people think that a folk reanalysis is
at work. You should always be worried if a term can only be explained by
changing it irregularly to some other form.  That's the problem with my
comment on minitari cf. maNwadaniN, though my suggestion lacks even the
benefit of enhancing clarity :).

> Then "Awatixa:^at' (Short Earthlodge Village)" and "Awaxa'^awati
> (Rough Hill Village)".

These analyses work nicely because all that's added is -ati, which I
suppose is either 'village' or a locative.