Colors in Dakota -Duta

[ROOD DAVID S]

Louis,
	I'm curious now: you cite both sa an sha in your message.  Are
those two spellings for the same term, or do Dakotas make a distinction?
If the latter, sa should be lighter or less intense than sha.
	I just got acquainted a couple days ago (by telephone) with a
young Lakhota who tells me his name is thashuNka luta, which he translates
'red horse'.  That must play on the 'sacred' meaning, since I can't
imagine a scarlet horse, but maybe it's just because it's a name.  Your
comment that names tend to use "luta" accords with what others have told
me (Maxpiya Luta for Red Cloud, e.g.).
	David

David S. Rood
Dept. of Linguistics
Univ. of Colorado
295 UCB
Boulder, CO 80309-0295
USA
rood at colorado.edu

On Tue, 25 Mar 2003, Louis Garcia wrote:

> As far as I can determine duta/luta is the color scarlet or bright red.
> Whereas sa is for plain red, also for the color of hair. Ex: Pehinsa for
> someone with red hair.
> However the word for headress wapesha (Lakotas don't seem to use the noun
> marker wa, and just use pesa) should be wapeduta for the bright red deer
> hair.
>
> Also in the Wakan Wacipi 'Waduta' in the songs seem to be translated as
> something sacred.
> Most of the traditional names also have duta. Only a handful use the term
> sa.
> Toksta ake,
> Louis Garcia
>