etymology of MANDAN

[Rgraczyk at aol.com]

A few comments on 'wirahatsitati'.  The Crow word for 'willow' is biliichi',
which may be cognate with Hidatsa miraha'aci 'willow' (this is the form in
Wes Jones' data).  The lack of correspondence in the vowels is problematic,
but there are many Crow/Hidatsa forms that correspond perfectly except for
one set of vowels.  I suspect that the first part i(bil-, mir-) is the
'water' word rather than the 'wood' word, since willows tend to grow near
water.  I have no idea what the second part means.  Glossing 'wirahatsitati'
as 'Willow (people), their village' looks right to me, with it(a)- being the
possessive prefix.

Randy