s^aaN for Sioux

[Alan H. Hartley]

Bruce Ingham wrote:

> I once asked an elderly Ponca man about the similarity
> between the word 
> s^aN
> and s^aaN or s^aN ama, the name give to the Sioux. 
> 
> 
> Is this word connected to the word Saone applied to
> some Lakota bands.  I have never quite understood the
> explanations of this term. Can anyone help

Riggs (Dakota English Dict. (1890) 91) etymologizes Dakota čaŋo´na 
(c^aNo'na), a subgroup of the Yanktonais, as 'wood hitters'. (I don't 
know the Net Siouan for eng, hence the N. If Riggs' aŋ is more properly 
rendered now as ą (a-hook; Latin small letter A with ogonek), then aN is 
the correct Net Siouan.)

Alan