Emigrant Algonquian words for 'dime'?

Rory M Larson rlarson at unlnotes.unl.edu
Thu Feb 3 02:20:17 UTC 2005


I have a question for anyone who does "emigrant"
(->Kansas->Oklahoma) Indian languages, especially
Sauk-Fox, Kickapoo, Delaware, Wyandot or Shawnee:
What is their term for 'dime'?

My motivation is trying to figure out when and how
the term came into Omaha.  The Omaha term is
s^uga'z^iNga, which parses as "thick-little", or
"little thick" if Omaha word order is respected.
Until recently, I thought this formulation occurred
only in OP, and I supposed that it came in in the
early 19th century any time after Lewis and Clark.

Recently I had the privilege of examining a copy of
Jimm Good Tracks' 1992 dictionary of Iowa-Otoe-Missouria,
and found that the term existed there too.  Since the
construction is so improbable, I concluded that it
probably came in during the Omahas' Bellevue period,
from 1846-1856, when they were camped in close
proximity to the Otos near the city that bears their
name.  This was the period of the great wagon trains
rolling west right by where they were camped, the first
missions, and early tourists on steamboats with the
Bellevue trading post as an important way station.
It was during this time that one might expect them
to have become familiar with American monetary terms.

Now I've had a chance to look at the wonderful Kaw
language site, put up, I understand, by Justin with
support from Bob, which Alfred kindly pointed out to
us.  Apparently Kaw also has the same "thick-little"
formulation as Omaha and Iowa-Otoe-Missouria.

The Kaw, however, were not located at Bellevue at this
time.  Instead, in 1846, they signed a treaty relinquishing
most of their lands and moved to a reservation starting
somewhere west of Topeka.  Various eastern Indian tribes
were moved into reservations along the eastern side of
Kansas.  Between the Kaw and Bellevue were reservations
for Sauks and Foxes, Kickapoos, Delawares and Wyandots,
with Shawnees just to the southeast.

Now this forces me to revise my theory again.  If this
odd term for 'dime' was coined in the Bellevue period,
then it must have been common, not only for the Omahas,
Otos, Missourias, Iowas and Kaws, but probably for all
the displaced Indian groups on the reservations between
them as well.  But if these other groups did not use any
sort of "thick-little" term for 'dime', then the term
must have been established among Missouri Siouan tribes
from northeastern Kansas to northeastern Nebraska prior
to 1846.  (Osage and the Dakotan languages do not have
this formulation so far as I know.)

Pawnee, of course, would also be of interest.

Thanks,
Rory



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