Washk=?UTF-8?Q?=C4=85_?=in Otoe-Missouria

[Catherine Rudin]

Common in Omaha too.  At one time it was the UmoNhoN Nation School's
sports teams cheer; maybe still is. 

>>> "Mcbride, Justin"  08/11/14 11:01 AM >>>
Just means 'do one's best' in Dhegiha, a far as I've ever seen. It's
very common in Osage in particular; it used to be written on the back of
all the Language Dept. t-shirts. 


On Wed, Aug 6, 2014 at 9:34 AM, Campbell, Sky <sky at omtribe.org> wrote:
A few weeks ago there was a discussion about the Ioway name "Washką
Manyi" and the given translations such as Fast Dancer and Great Walker
from historical documents.  I also mentioned a Ponca friend of mine with
the name Washką Mathi which he translated as Stands Strong.  So I've
been really interested in the term "washką" and if there was any Otoe
equivalent.  The closest lead I found was Dorsey giving the Jiwere
equivalent of washką as brixe in his Omaha/Ponca slips.
 
But poking through Dorsey's material a while ago I found this term:
 
nan-wañ-́e i-ra-́krin-wa-́shkan - to do his best to dodge or evade the
blow, weapon, or pursuer
 
Then I was talking with my assistant today who is pretty knowledgeable
in Osage and he mentioned in passing that Osages use "washką" to refer
to doing their best.  So I looked in Dorsey's material again and found
this by itself:
 
nan-wañ-́e - to dodge a blow or weapon; to evade the enemy, or pursuer
 
So that leaves us with  i-ra-́krin-wa-́shkan which Dorsey also has a
separate slip for.  Unfortunately he doesn't translate it here but he
does give this phrase:
 
irákrinwashkanˊwi hó
 
Based on what I've seen so far, it looks to be a command to "do your
best".  But what is really interesting is Dorsey gives this afterward:
 
(eq. to Dh. washkan i-gă)
 
So now we have a direct comparison of the Otoe "iragrį washką" and
Dhegiha "washką".  Has anyone else seen something like this floating
around their respective languages?  I'm curious what the "iragrį" is
doing here and why it is omitted for its Dhegiha equivalent.  And now
because of the idea of "best" it has me wondering if this term is
related to "wexa" (best).
 
Anyone have any thoughts?  If this term does in fact refer to doing your
best, then the name "Washką Manyi" could perhaps roughly translate to
"He Always Does His Best."
 
Sky Campbell
Language Director
Otoe-Missouria Tribe
(580) 723-4466, ext. 111
sky at omtribe.org
 


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