Locative Postpositions

[Koontz John E]

On Thu, 28 Oct 1999, ROOD DAVID S wrote:
> 	I haven't followed all of the discussion about mtaN etc., so I may
> say something dumb here, but from the point of view of Dakota syntax, a
> word with a final locative ending like -l/-n would be given in answer to a
> "where" question, not a "who" question.

I can't think of any Siouan ethnonyms for the area that involve locatives,
but at least one Omaha clan name is locative:  DattadaN 'on the left hand
side'.  Omaha and Ukaxpa (Quapaw) are not locative phrases, but they are
locative (directional) adverbs.  I think Winnebago is a locative in
Ojibwa, something like 'at the smelly water'.  Various Iroquoian tribal
names are locatives.  Village names can be locative.  Omadi is one of the
historical Omaha villages.  I'm not positive about Oma at the moment, but
di is the locative we've been discussing.  A locative name for a village
might well become an ethnonym, and I suppose we could assume something
like that here.

What's really potentially a problem here is the combination of an attested
Mandan term with a Dakotan locative.  We're essentially assuming that the
Mandan name for the Missouri River, not, so far as I know, attested in
Dakotan, was formerly in circulation in at least Assiniboine, or that a
Mandan form 'at/by the Missouri', perhaps a village name, was partially
translated into Assiniboine.  I don't think any of the usual locatives in
Mandan has the right shape.

JEK