Looking for a Dhegiha (and also maybe Dakota) term

[Rory Larson]

In Omaha, úškaⁿ means ‘activity’ or type of work, as in nú-uškaⁿ, ‘men’s work or customs’, vs. waɁú-uškaⁿ, ‘women’s work or customs’.  It would be about the same as in Kaw.  Underlyingly, it is composed of three elements:

            wa- (a generalizing nominalizer in this case)
            -o-  (a locative prefix meaning something like ‘in’, that places the verb in environmental context)
            -škaⁿ  ‘move’, ‘stir’

I don’t think this Dhegiha word is actually related to either the mystery word wó-khŭⁿ or the Dakota word okhaⁿ, though.  The equivalent Dakota word is óškaⁿ, ‘motion’ or ‘movement’.  Dakota okháⁿ can mean ‘room’, in the sense that there is room for something, or that it isn’t too crowded to fit somebody in.  Omaha has the word ukkóⁿ, which I have down as meaning “space (an open space or place to put something)”, and which should be the equivalent of the Dakota word.

The problem here is the accent.  Since it comes on the second syllable in the Omaha and Dakota forms, it means that there is no initial underlying wa- in those words.  The mystery word with the leading w- and first-syllable accent presumably has a wa- there.  If the base word is in fact the same as the Dakota and Omaha word “have room for”, I’m not sure what the wa- adds to it, or how it would be used in conjugated forms.

Actually though, the Dakota word doesn’t match the mystery word either, because it has /aⁿ/ where the mystery word has /uⁿ/.  Omaha wouldn’t make the distinction, but Dakotan and I believe IOM do.  So we should really be looking at a Dakotan word sounding like okhúⁿ, which I do find described cryptically for Teton with the single example of okhúⁿ wašte, ‘gentle’ or ‘mild’ as some kind of comparative element.  Perhaps some of the Lakhota linguists could help out here.

Best,
Rory


From: Siouan Linguistics [mailto:SIOUAN at listserv.unl.edu] On Behalf Of David Kaufman
Sent: Friday, October 03, 2014 8:36 AM
To: SIOUAN at LISTSERV.UNL.EDU
Subject: Re: Looking for a Dhegiha (and also maybe Dakota) term

Sky,

Kaw óshkaN = act, deed, custom (Kaanze dictionary, 161)

Dave

David Kaufman, Ph.D.
Director, Kaw Nation Language Program

On Fri, Oct 3, 2014 at 8:01 AM, Campbell, Sky <sky at omtribe.org<mailto:sky at omtribe.org>> wrote:
I am looking for a term that Dorsey has in his language slips which is:

wó-khŭⁿ

He conjugates this term but doesn't translate it.  He lists the Dhegiha equivalent as:

ushkaⁿ

And the Dakota equivalent as:

okhaⁿ

I haven't had any luck finding information on any of these terms.  Anyone have any ideas or can maybe point me in the right direction?

Sky Campbell
Language Director
Otoe-Missouria Tribe
(580) 723-4466, ext. 111<tel:%28580%29%20723-4466%2C%20ext.%20111>
sky at omtribe.org<mailto:sky at omtribe.org>

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