[Algonquiana] "payiinsak" mentioned in WIkwemikong on Manitoulin Is.

Fri Jun 3 17:13:20 UTC 2016

Just a tidbit in response to Michael's comment. (Pronunciation of term
varies somewhat among speakers with some saying pa more like paa.) I've
heard the term only in passing in a sense, not elicited through formal
research questions. 

As a member of Wikwemikong, I've often been in informal social
gatherings of family or friends. These at times lead to people
recounting stories they've heard. For example, my late mother told of a
neighbour recounting to her how when her kids were small, they went off
for an entire afternoon. When they got back and she asked them where
they'd been, they told her of having met a family of "Nishnaabensak"
(another term used pretty well synonymously with payiinsak by that time
-- the mid 1900s) and having played with their kids that day. The
neighbour would have been speaking of a time in the early 1950s as her
kids are now in their late 60s. 

(Wiky membership consists of Ottawa, Ojibwes, and Potawatomis. My mother
was presumably part Potawatomi as she remarked now and then about
"Potawatomi money" that was to have come to them. My father was
presumably Ottawa -- he died when I was six -- and presumably my mother
was also mostly Ottawa too, as Rand tells me -- from the vocabulary I
use -- that I speak Ottawa. I've never heard anyone in my community make
a point of identifying how a member speaks as being of a particular
dialect/language. We generally just say of someone, "Nishnaabema" ( or
gaawii Nishnaabem-sii).

That was a bit more than a tidbit, wasn't it :)

MAC

>>> "McCafferty, Michael Lee" <mmccaffe at indiana.edu> 06/03/16 11:27 AM
>>>
David saved me a lot of typing. I was about to tell a similar story,yet
not as detailed, about páyiihsaki. One thing. I think there's an Ottawa
cognate as well if I'm not mistaken. 

Best,

Michael
________________________________________
De : Algonquiana [algonquiana-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org] de la
part de David Costa [pankihtamwa at earthlink.net]
Envoyé : 3 juin 2016 11:15
À : Bousquet Marie-Pierre
Cc : ALGONQUIANA at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
Objet : Re: [Algonquiana] Legend

Probably every Algonquian group had its little people legends — in
Miami-Illinois, their word for little people is which has cognates in
Meskwaki and Potawatomi. They’re a kind of malevolent dwarf who live by
rivers and terrorize travelers. They definipáyiihsa, tely have mouths,
tho, since they speak normally. Jacob Dunn described them as a “small
supernatural who is supposed to guide departed spirits to the ‘happy
hunting ground’”. Albert Gatschet went into more detail and said of
them, “walk on top of water. could be tracked on a rock. Live on the
ground, in the air; there are only two of them and they are twins
(tchikamwáki). They are ½ men, ½ bears, being the product mother human
[sic], father a bear.” Gatschet also said “there are only two dwarfs,
and they have many stories about them. Swim around in water, rivers,
timber – are naked, and of the male sex only. They always stay together.
Story how they came into existence. There was a woman whose husband was
away for a whole day whenever he was hunting. She then went to a cave or
hollow tree slanting up where a bear lived. From this union originated
two babies, and these were the pá-issa or dwarfs.”

If you’re interested, the main Peoria story that was recorded about
páyiihsaki is included in the “New Voices for Old Words” volume I
edited for the University of Nebraska Press and which came out last
year.

best,

Dave Costa

On Jun 3, 2016, at 6:36 AM, Bousquet Marie-Pierre
<marie-pierre.bousquet at umontreal.ca<mailto:marie-pierre.bousquet at umontreal.ca>>
wrote:

Kwe kakina, hi everyone,

I am looking for documentation about specific little people. There are
different kind of little people among the Algonquins: memegweshik,
Anishinabeshishak, Nadoweshishak. I am looking for stories about little
people who smell the food to get fed. They come during the night and you
know they came because the food htold me they have no bums and apparently no mouth. I would like to know
if someone has heard of that legend.

Kitci mikwetc, many thanks,
———————————
Marie-Pierre Bousquet PhD
Directrice du Programme en études
autochtones<https://www.facebook.com/pea.udem>
Professeure titulaire/Full professor
Département d'anthropologie
Université de Montréal
C.P. 6128, succ. Centre-ville
Montréal (Qc) H3C 3J7
CANADA
Tel: 514-343-2152<tel://Tel:%20514-343-2152>
marie-pierre.bousquet at umontreal.ca<mailto:marie-pierre.bousquet at umontreal.ca><mailto:marie-pierre.bousquet at umontreal.ca>
www.graaq.ca<http://www.graaq.ca><http://www.graaq.ca/>

_______________________________________________
Algonquiana mailing list
Algonquiana at listserv.linguistlist.org<mailto:Algonquiana at listserv.linguistlist.org>
http://listserv.linguistlist.org/mailman/listinfo/algonquiana

_______________________________________________
Algonquiana mailing list
Algonquiana at listserv.linguistlist.org
http://listserv.linguistlist.org/mailman/listinfo/algonquiana

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/algonquiana/attachments/20160603/663b08b6/attachment.htm>