MANDAN (again)

Alan H. Hartley ahartley at d.umn.edu
Thu Oct 21 00:28:39 UTC 1999


John and Mauricio think Mandan maNta 'Missouri River' a possible etymon
for the English name MANDAN, and I'd like to suggest an elaboration
about which I'd welcome suggestions.

MANDAN < Fr. Mantanne (1738; and cf. late 18th-cent. Sp. Mandana), or
directly from its etymon Assiniboine MaNtan < Mandan MaNta 'Missouri
River' + Assiniboine locative postposition -en. The English forms in -l
(e.g., Mandal, Mandelle) show the influence of Lakota, in which the same
postposition is realized as -el.

Riggs gives Dakota tin (< ti + en) and Lakota til (< ti + el) 'in the
house'. Might this postposition be cognate with the Mandan directional
suffix -t (Kennard)? And is it related to the Dakotan & Mandan locative
-ta ? (There is no Eng. form of the type *Mandat.)

I don't know how the (apparently diminutive) modern Dakotan forms (e.g.,
Mawa'tadaN) would fit in, if at all. Is there any way Dakotan Mawata can
be construed as cognate with Mandan MaNta ? (I realize I'm starting to
go over old ground here, for which I apologize.)

I've been trying to borrow Hollow's _Mandan Dict._ but have been unable
to get it through ILL (and it isn't available from UMI): does anyone
know of a circulating copy that I might be able to borrow?

Thanks for any help.

Alan



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