etymology of MANDAN

[Alan H. Hartley]

> Nor does narrowing it down to a
> particular language guarantee a correct interpretation.

Granted, but it's certainly a necessary beginning.

Back to your assertion that "unless it [an ethnonym] is transparent in
the native language of that tribe itself (and sometimes even then), any
analysis is suspect." It seems to me that the etymology of an ethnonym
should not be less suspect simply because the etymon adduced is native.
(Folk etymology operates on native words as it does on foreign ones.)