<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Re: gypsum or "mica"</TITLE>
<META content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<STYLE type=text/css>BLOCKQUOTE {
MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN-TOP: 0px
}
DL {
MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN-TOP: 0px
}
UL {
MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN-TOP: 0px
}
OL {
MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN-TOP: 0px
}
LI {
MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN-TOP: 0px
}
</STYLE>
<META content="MSHTML 5.00.2614.3500" name=GENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>This verb apparently meant 'make marks' originally.
In the Mississippi Valley Siouan languages it has been generalized to 'make' in
the modern languages. The older, common Siouan verb 'make, so' is/was
?uN. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Sorry I can't help with the mineral terms. It is a
real problem for all of us that cultural vocabulary has not been collected in
sufficient detail in most Siouan languages. In a few instances, such as
ethnobotany, talented scientists of particular disciplines (in this case botany)
have visited communities and collected a good many more terms than linguists
did. I haven't heard of any mineralogists who have done that
however. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Bob</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A href="mailto:alber033@tc.umn.edu" title=alber033@tc.umn.edu>Patricia
Albers</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
href="mailto:siouan@lists.colorado.edu"
title=siouan@lists.colorado.edu>siouan@lists.colorado.edu</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, August 09, 2002 12:21
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: gypsum or "mica"</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>I have also explored all of these sources and came up with what you
kindly shared from Lakota/Dakota sources but the Osage words I did not know.
There is really a derth of linguistic material, as far as I can tell, on words
for varieties of stone, clay, and mineral in Lakota and Dakota dictionary
sources. In this regard, I have been trying to track down the
term<I> icage,</I> which Walker (1983, pp. 220-221, 222-223, 227-228) gives to
describe 'white fruits' growing under the earth, suggesting the crystalline
formations in caves. In Walker's literary rendition of the Lakota genesis
story,<I> Taku Skan Skan</I> made entrails from these fruits and molded a male
and a female figure (pp. 225-226). Like the Cheyennes, the Lakotas sprinkled
powdered gypsum on the ground to mark off the altar at their Sun Dance
(Densmore 1918, p. 122. The Cheyenne sometimes refer to gypsum as
"frost." Could<I> icage </I> come from the word<I> caga</I> (Riggs
1968, p. 84; Buechel 1970, p. 113).<I> Icage</I> means "something to make
with" (Riggs (Riggs 1968, p.171; Buechel 1970, p. 199). Another and
probably related word,<I> icago,</I> refers to a mark or line that is drawn or
sketched on something (Buechel, p. 199),and Buechel also gives<I> wakicaga</I>
as a name for a sacred ceremony (Buechel 1970, p. 835). </DIV>
<DIV><X-TAB> </X-TAB>Yes, yuwi'pi
are transparent stones,including the crystalline ones that ants push up from
their underground tunnels. Another word used for stones with transparent
qualities was<I> Inyan zanzan</I> in Williamson and also in one of the texts
in the Buechel collection.</DIV>
<DIV><X-TAB> </X-TAB></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 face=Georgia size=+1><BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 face=Georgia
size=+1><X-TAB>
</X-TAB></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE cite type="cite">On Thu, 8 Aug 2002, Patricia Albers
wrote:<BR>> Would anyone on the listserve happen to know the Lakota word
for<BR>> gypsum, also loosely called mica?<BR><BR>Interesting! I'd
never heard of a connection in English terminology.<BR>When you read of mica
as something traded, say, within the Hopewell<BR>Interaction Sphere (term?),
which do they mean?<BR><BR>Here are a few ideas struggling toward being a
non-answer.<BR><BR>I checked in Ingham, Buechel, and Williamson without any
luck. I suspect<BR>this simply reflects a hole in these dictionaries'
coverage. (See Osage<BR>below.)<BR><BR>The only minerals listed in
Buechel (under stones) are:<BR><BR>khaNghi't[h]ame 'black shale' (a black.
smooth stone found along the White<BR>
River)<BR>wahiN ~ waNhi 'flint'<BR><BR>Yuwi'pi is defined as 'transparent
stones' in the same article, which to<BR>me suggests quartz or some other
mineral at least translucent, but I am<BR>not a student of yuwipi. I
did notice yuwi'pi was^i'c^uN 'a sacred round<BR>hard stone that is supposed
to have power in the hands of those who have<BR>dreamed' - for those who
have been following the was^i'c^uN discussion.<BR><BR>A syllable like 'me'
is quite unusual in Lakota. It reflects<BR>Proto-Mississippi Valley *W
((as opposed to *w), which normally becomes b<BR>in Santee as depicted in
Riggs and turns up as w or m in Buechel. I don't<BR>know why sometimes
m (maybe when the underlying stem is BaN? - cf. Riggs).<BR><BR>Since Riggs
gives be 'to hatch, as fowls. Same as maN" I assume that me<BR>(mAN, a
nasal ablauting stem?) had a similar gloss at some point, but is<BR>now
moribund. It doesn't occur in Buechel - and neither does we or
maN.<BR>That suggests that khaNghi' ['crow'] tha [ALIENABLE] me {cf. be or
baN?)<BR>means something like 'crow('s) egg(s)' or 'crow('s)
hatchling(s)'.<BR><BR>The root hiN in 'flint' is pan-Siouan and tends not to
change much, except<BR>that it is sometimes hard hit by contracting and
largely hidden in<BR>compound terms for 'knife' or 'projectile
point'.<BR><BR>===<BR><BR>I found both terms in LaFlesche's Osage
Dictionary:<BR><BR>moNiN'hka ska 'gypsum' (literally 'white earth' or 'white
clay')<BR><BR>iN'hkoNpa 'mica; a tumbler for drinking
water'<BR> (literally iN 'stone' + hkoNpa 'be light,
transparent')<BR> The stem hkoNpa is not listed
separately.<BR><BR>I also noticed:<BR><BR>iN'hkoNhkoNdha 'friable rock or
stone. A symbol used in rituals.'<BR><BR>===<BR><BR>Back tracking
these in Lakota, I did find in Buechel:<BR><BR>ma[n]k[h]a saN 'whitish or
yellowish clay' (Vermillion is 'red clay')<BR><BR>And then, of course,
yuwi'pi is/are described as (a) transparent stone(s).</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE cite type="cite"><BR>===<BR><BR>The Omaha Pebble Society refers
to the pebble as iN'kkugdhi 'translucent<BR>stone'. The form kku'gdhi
is cognate with Lakota khogli 'translucent,<BR>clear'.<BR><BR>I apologize
for the use of "NetSiouan" orthogaphy. I can clarify it if<BR>you need
to know more standard lettering.<BR><BR>JEK</BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV><BR></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>