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

[Rory Larson]

Sky,

I’m glad the explanation helped.  Tangentially, let me correct one thing I said:


Ø  In European languages, we generally have some simple verbal device for presenting the progressive.

I did a little checking with Google and Wikipedia after I sent out the message, and it turns out that the progressive as a verbal form is not so common in European languages as I was assuming.  Notably, it seems it is not present in French, German, or the continental Scandinavian languages.  Apparently it is present mainly along the western fringes of Europe: Spanish and Portuguese, English, Icelandic, all of the Celtic languages, and perhaps marginally at least in Dutch and Italian.  An intriguing suggestion is that it might be substrate feature of Celtic.  I wonder if anyone with European expertise has any thoughts to add to this?

For Omaha and Ponca names, we usually consult the lists given in Volume I of The Omaha Tribe, by Alice C. Fletcher and Francis La Flesche.  These are broken out by clan or subclan and by gender, and are scattered through a good chunk of the book, so it takes a while to find anything if you don’t know the clan and gender.  I haven’t checked the book thoroughly, but for the Ponca Hisada clan there are some likely matches to the names you mention.

First, let’s confirm the spelling of Merrill’s “Iskutupe”.  I haven’t seen, and don’t recognize, anything quite like that, but there is a common name “Iⁿshta-duba”, translated as “Four-Eyes”, which shows up in Omaha lists as well as the Ponca Hisada clan.

If Big Horse’s name is actually “Shuⁿka-bi”, then the “shuⁿka” part of that should be equivalent to the Dakotan word for ‘dog’, ‘wolf’ or ‘horse’.  Presumably Lewis and Clark understood it that way, and that would be how he got the name “Big Horse” in English.  But what shows up in the Fletcher & La Flesche lists doesn’t have nasalization of the [u].  Instead, they have “Shúkabi”, translated as “Bunch of clouds”.  There is also the name “Shukámoⁿthiⁿ”, translated as “Walking in groups”.  Under the Omaha Honga clan, they have the same name listed as “Shúkamoⁿthiⁿ”, where they specifically translate “Shúka” as meaning “groups”, but say that the reference is uncertain.  This is a word to try to check with our speakers, but I would guess that it refers to clouds forming in clusters.

I don’t recognize “Iskąbade”, but I can say that “bade” won’t work as ‘boat’ in Omaha or Ponca.  The word there is moⁿdé, with accent on the second syllable to distinguish it from móⁿde, ‘bow’.  Kaw would be a better bet, where it is bajé, but that’s about the same as in Otoe except for the accent.  The Comparative Siouan Dictionary team believed that the ‘boat’ word was probably a loan word from Algonquian, but at least for MVS it could probably be reconstructed as *Wate, where [W] represents “funny w”, a sound that became /p/ or /b/ in Osage, Kaw, and apparently IOM, but /m/ in Omaha and Ponca.

I would love to have copies of your Ioway and Otoe transcriptions.  That would be very useful!

Best,
Rory


From: Siouan Linguistics [mailto:SIOUAN at listserv.unl.edu] On Behalf Of Sky Campbell
Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2014 8:21 PM
To: SIOUAN at LISTSERV.UNL.EDU
Subject: Re: Washką in Otoe-Missouria

Thanks for the explanation :).  It has helped me form the concept in my mind.  I know that Hamilton and Irvin wrote about this in their An Ioway Grammar (1848).  They wrote


When continued or habitual action, or position, is expressed, the verb is compounded with me-na-kæ (miną) he sits, na-yæ-kæ (nayį) he stands, or ma-nyæ-kæ (manyi) he walks. The first two refer to place or position. The last, when forming a part of the verb, always implies continuation or perpetuity; as,



Un-ce-me-na-kæ. (Ųnjį miną ke) He keeps striking me. (i.e. while he is sitting)

Jka-cæ-na-yæ-kæ. (Skaje nayį ke) He continues playing. (i.e. while he is standing)

U-ma-nyæ-kæ. ('Ų manyi ke) He always does so.

e-ha-ha-ha-ma-nyæ-skæ (ihax'ą hamanyisge) as long as I live
Hæ-kra-he-ha-ma-nyæ-kæ (Hegrahi hamanyi ke). I always love.

That "as long as I live" example that they give really goes with your explanation so I'm definitely going to delve more into this.  I've seen it before but perhaps the time wasn't right for me to see more of its meaning.  Just needed a nudge I guess :).

Your mention of "shkaN" meaning "to move" has me curious about another name.  I found in Rev. Moses Merrill's diary the name "Iskutupe" (I think that is how he spelled it...doing this from memory LOL) is mentioned (which I'm guessing would be spelled in our current orthography as Iskątabi or Ishkątabi.  Dorsey also lists this name among his Otoe names but only mentions that it is an Omaha name and doesn't translate it.  This makes sense since Merrill says his father was  Shųnkabi (Big Horse's (of Lewis and Clark fame) son).  Dorsey says that that name is also an Omaha name and translates it as Heavy Cloud (Ponca Hisada clan?).  Does this name ring a bell with you at all?  I haven't been able to figure it out through my Otoe sources yet.  But today (of all days LOL) I got an email from a tribal member who has an Otoe-Ponca friend who was curious about their name.  They didn't know if it was Otoe or Ponca but they  gave "Iskąbade.  It sounds Ponca to me and if you flip the b and d, you get the name I have above.  But the "bade" reminds me of the Otoe "baje" (canoe/boat).

Also, I reference Hamilton and Irvin's An Ioway Grammar quite a bit and transcribed it about 3 years ago.  Right now I am almost finished transliterating it.  It has been an incredible resource for me and it might be to you guys as well so if anyone wants either version (strict transcription or transliteration to our orthography), let me know.  It is incredibly useful to search through since it is a nice, clean copy.  I've also transcribed their other books (Elementary Book of the Ioway Language and Original Hymns In the Ioway Language (both 1843) and also am almost done transliterating the Elementary book as well.  Those will be available soon.  I've also transcribed all of Merrill's Otoe books and am currently transliterating his as well (his are MUCH tougher!).  So if anyone wants copies of these for their own research on their respective Siouan language(s), let me know.

Sky



From: Siouan Linguistics [mailto:SIOUAN at listserv.unl.edu] On Behalf Of Rory Larson
Sent: Thursday, September 4, 2014 1:10 PM
To: SIOUAN at listserv.unl.edu<mailto:SIOUAN at listserv.unl.edu>
Subject: Re: Washką in Otoe-Missouria


Ø  This is one of those ultra rare examples of an older Otoe source using "maði" rather than "manyi".  What is the "maði" doing here?  (FYI the suffix -nye means "they").  Could it mean they are "always" watching over their flock?  I suppose.  But to me it seems like the idea is what they are doing on this particular night which really has me thinking about your "being" or "existing" senses and that maybe they could be applied here.  But can "doing" mean the same as "being"?  Not sure.  I'm going to keep this in the back of my mind...especially as it can perhaps apply to names (like my friend's) and see if anything "clicks" in my mind.

I think one way to look at this is as a Siouan equivalent of the progressive aspect.  What’s being signalled here is that the action was going on at the time that something else occurred.  So if the shepherds were watching their flocks, that’s part of the background that the speaker is painting for you in preparation for the main event they are going to tell.

In European languages, we generally have some simple verbal device for presenting the progressive.  In English, we use some form of “be”, plus the action verb, plus “-ing”:  the shepherds were watch-ing.  But in at least some of the Siouan languages, one of about four basic verbs of position/motion is used after the main verb: ‘lie’, ‘sit’, ‘stand’, or ‘walk’.  This allows Siouan speakers to express not only the progressive aspect, but also a special nuance of that aspect.  This could be literally the position of the party doing it, or more abstractly, how general the action’s ongoingness is.  In Omaha, at least, I believe that ‘sit’ generally means that the condition is a temporary and conditional sort of thing, while ‘walk’ is something habitual or characteristic.

Thus, you might have several choices in signalling the progressive aspect.  If the shepherds WALK-watch their flocks, they are walking about and making their rounds in their activity.  If they STAND-watch their flocks, they are standing up, looking on in a state of dynamic tension.  If they SIT-watch their flocks, they are watching while sitting down and relaxed.  If they LIE-watch their flocks, then they are sacked out on the job.  But in a more abstract way, if they WALK-watch their flocks, the activity is open-ended.  The shepherds, habitually and characteristically, are always doing it.  But if they SIT-watch their flocks, the activity is temporary and conditional.  That would imply that the shepherds just happened to be watching them at the moment of the main event, but probably hadn’t been watching them long before, and probably wouldn’t be watching them much longer.  It would be happenstance behavior, not their normal activity.

In names, these position/motion modifiers wouldn’t exactly imply the progressive aspect as they do in full sentences, but the mode of the behavior would still be in force.  So Xude-moNthiN, ‘Walks Gray’, would mean that the cat goes around characteristically manifesting grayness.  Similarly, WashkaN-moNthiN would be the name for a person that goes around manifesting strong, vigorous activity.  (In Omaha, at least, shkaN means ‘to move’.  With the wa- prefix in front of it, wa-shkaN seems to mean the characteristic of being active, showing strength.  So we would probably translate it as ‘strong’ or ‘active’.  Think of someone who is hard-working and busy, constantly seeing things that need to be done and doing them, like a good leader.)

Best,
Rory




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