<html dir="ltr">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
<style>
<!--
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri}
@font-face
{font-family:Tahoma}
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0cm;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{color:blue;
text-decoration:underline}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{color:purple;
text-decoration:underline}
p
{margin:0cm;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"}
p.MsoAcetate, li.MsoAcetate, div.MsoAcetate
{margin:0cm;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:8.0pt;
font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"}
span.EmailStyle18
{font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D}
span.BalloonTextChar
{font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"}
.MsoChpDefault
{font-size:10.0pt}
@page WordSection1
{margin:72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt}
-->
</style><style id="owaParaStyle" type="text/css">P {margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;}</style>
</head>
<body ocsi="0" fpstyle="1" vlink="purple" lang="EN-US" link="blue">
<div style="direction: ltr;font-family: Times New Roman;color: #000000;font-size: 12pt;">
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
</w:Compatibility>
<w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object
classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id=ieooui></object>
<style>
st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }
</style>
<![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0pt 5.4pt 0pt 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0pt;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
</style>
<![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026"/>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1"/>
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]-->
<p class="MsoNormal">I have a question for the Omaha and Ponca language specialists.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>I may have asked it before, but I don’t remember doing so.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>Any help would be appreciated by both me and the Osages, one of whose historians has asked me about it.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the migration stories of the Dhegiha tribes (apparently all but the Quapaws) there is the name of a village where the ancestors of the Omahas, Poncas, Osages and Kaws all dwelt together before they split up and went their separate ways.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>The Kaws seemed to think in Dorsey’s time that it was maybe somewhere back towards eastern Missouri.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>But the location isn’t what I’m asking about.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>In Kaw the name of the place was <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Mądaaxpaye</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>In Osage it was <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:
normal">Mątaaxpaðe</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>In Omaha and Ponca that would be <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Mąnaaxpaðe</i> or
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Mądaaxpaðe</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>To me this name seems to break down into <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">
naa-xpaðe</i> which should be a verb meaning roughly ‘to burn down’, i.e., to cause to fall down by action of extreme heat.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>And then the noun root <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">mą</i>, which should be the root meaning ‘soil, earth’ that is found in
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">mąðį́kka</i> ‘earth’, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">
mąhe</i> ‘bank, cliff’, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">mąžą</i> ‘land’, etc.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So the whole name seems to imply something like ‘scorched earth’ or some place that burned to the ground.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>The fact that all these subgroups of Dhegiha remembered the same name in Dorsey’s time strongly suggests that there was such a place, but I have no access to anyone who speaks Kaw or Osage any more.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>So what does this place name mean exactly in Omaha or Ponca??</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Bob<span style="font-size:13.5pt; color:#1F497D"></span><span style="color:black"></span></p>
<div style="font-family: Times New Roman; color: #000000; font-size: 16px">
<div>
<div class="WordSection1">
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>