Omaha and Lakota Words

Tue Aug 23 17:02:56 UTC 2011

I can't contribute much either, except the obvious biological association between the length of the lunar cycle and the length of the human female's menstrual cycle (28 days for each),  not unique to Siouan culture, of course.  Isn't there also a euphemism to refer to the menstrual period that refers to the moon, or am I thinking of another tribe here?  (Readers familiar with Ishi of  northern California might recall the taboo on moonlight touching a man's face during sleep, along with associations of women's reproductive powers as spiritually dangerous to others, and a connection to the moon.

Basso similarly notes Western Apache speakers as saying "My grandmother is visiting" if a woman had to inform her husband why she could not sleep with him at that time,  referencing Grandmother Moon.

Mary CrowDog talks about "moon/woman" power in her autobiographical book for Lakhota culture in the 20th century.   More info is probably out there.  Anyone care to break with our own cultural delicacy and broach the subject?

Jill

Jill D. Greer
Department of Social Science
MSSU
Joplin, MO 65801
Greer-j at mssu.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-siouan at lists.Colorado.EDU [mailto:owner-siouan at lists.Colorado.EDU] On Behalf Of Rankin, Robert L
Sent: Monday, August 22, 2011 5:05 PM
To: siouan at lists.Colorado.EDU
Subject: RE: Omaha and Lakota Words

I can't contribute much to this discussion, but there are a couple of things that can be said.

1. wiN is the first syllable of the common Siouan term for 'woman'. wiN and min ~ mi are cognates.

2. wiN (miN ~ mi) is also the reconstructible term for 'orb' and is the basis for the terms for both 'sun' and 'moon'.  Dakotan wi is very irregular.  The word has nasalization in every other Siouan language for which nasality is phonemic.  Dakotan 'star', wichaxpe is similarly irregular; cf. Kansa mikkak?e.

3. The Kansa term is miixoge.  'Badger' is xoNga, so that is quite different.

4. The Common Siouan 'potential, irrealis', kte, has its source in the Proto-Siouan word for 'to want'.  It retains that meaning in Biloxi, Crow and some other languages.  'Want' is grammaticalized as a future tense or potential mode marker in many languages including English, Greek and many Balkan languages, so there's nothing strange here.

5. I have no idea whether these terms refer to femininity, the moon, etc. or whether the entire explanation might be folk etymology.  Someone more familiar with the cultures may be better at explaining these things than a hard core linguist.

Bob

________________________________________
From: owner-siouan at lists.Colorado.EDU [owner-siouan at lists.Colorado.EDU] on behalf of ROOD DAVID S [David.Rood at Colorado.EDU]
Sent: Monday, August 22, 2011 12:48 PM
To: siouan at lists.Colorado.EDU
Subject: Re: Omaha and Lakota Words

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
>
>

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