Omaha and Lakota Words

[ROOD DAVID S]

Scott, I have never thought about trying to do an etymology of winkte, 
but Mark has given me some ideas.  WiN is indeed a very common morpheme 
for 'woman', used as the final element in almost all women's names, for 
example.  Mark's guess at xti is wrong, however -- that would be xci or 
xce in Lakota.  kte is the irrealis mode marker, usually glossed future 
tense in English, so the meaning could be something like 'will be a woman' 
or 'might be a woman'.
 	I wonder if wiN and Omaha mi are cognate, despite the difference 
in meaning.  Lakota 'moon' is wi, without nasalization.

 	David

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

On Mon, 22 Aug 2011, Mark J Awakuni-Swetland wrote:

> Aloha Scott,
> We have generally glossed miqu'ga as:
>
> mi-moon
> qu'ga- marked
>
> Qu'ga is also the Omaha name for badger, distinguished by the clear "mark"
> on its face.
>
> So, "marked by the moon", referring to the feminine/female qualities of
> that celestial being in Omaha cosmology.
>
>
> I would hazard a stab at winxti from an Omaha perspectiv as:
>
> win-feminine
> xti-very, really
>
> Or, "very female".
>
> Mark
>
>
> Mark Awakuni-Swetland, Ph.D.
> Associate Professor of Anthropology & Ethnic Studies
> Native American Studies Program Liaison
> University of Nebraska
> Department of Anthropology
> 841 Oldfather Hall
> Lincoln, NE 68588-0368
>
> http://omahalanguage.unl.edu
> http://omahaponca.unl.edu
> Phone 402-472-3455
> FAX: 402-472-9642
>
>
>
> Scott Collins <saponi360 at yahoo.com>
> Sent by: owner-siouan at lists.Colorado.EDU
> 08/21/11 06:34 PM
> Please respond to
> siouan at lists.Colorado.EDU
>
>
> To
> siouan at lists.Colorado.EDU
> cc
>
> Subject
> Omaha and Lakota Words
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> I was wondering if anyone may have a breakdown of the word mexoga in Omaha
> and the word winkte in Lakota; i.e such as root words and literal
> meanings?
>
> Scott P. Collins
>
>