... Word for "Chief" ...

[Koontz John E]

On Mon, 16 Apr 2001, Rankin, Robert L wrote:
> The OP root is > gahige (~ hagi) if I recall.

Oops, I transposed gahi.

> > > 2. Wangegihi etc (fr. Wange 'man' + gi 'towards something' +
> >  hi 'to cause' = 'Causes a person to go [do? something]',
> > relating to the authority of a chief. You could render gihi as
> > 'send(er)'.
>
> Nikka-gahi is another variant in Dhegiha dialects. Nikka 'man' with gahi as
> the root for 'chief'. Hi does not function as a causative in Dhegiha
> languages, and they routinely have ga- (Dakotan ka-) where Chiwere and
> Winnebago have gi-. So it certainly looks as though Dhegiha speakers analyze
> the root as gahi- (with ga- > gi- in CH/WI). I can't say anything about
> trying to derive it from Spanish Cacique, but i tend to doubt it.

I hadn't thought of that.  It makes sense to see gihi as a development of
gahi.  And then Nikka-gahi does parallel waNge-gihi exactly.

JEK