Crow-Hidatsa Willow (Re: etymology of MANDAN)

[Robert L. Rankin]

> Basically, I interpreted the Hidatsa form as 'yellow bark tree' and the Crow form as 'yellow tree' remodelled as 'yellow water'.  Or, actually, both forms are uninterpretable wholes that seem to be traceable to these interpetations.

This provides a vignette of problems faced by those of us who
like to etymologize place/personal names.  I spent years doing up
a paper on S.E. placenames in De Soto's time, and at this point
would probably recant about 60% of it.  In toponymic and
ethnonymic study it is often just not enough to find that your
word can be broken down morphemically with a correct phonology.
There would have to be additional proof that these folk built
their lives around willow trees, or something of the sort.
Otherwise we just have another case like wadohda-na, which does
NOT mean 'lovers of sex', baxoje, which does NOT mean either
'gray noses' or 'gray snow' and ppado(N)kka, which does NOT mean
'stubby heads'.

That doesn't mean it isn't fun to discuss the cases, of course!!

I think this problem is a little different from etymologizing
plant and animal names, since plants and animals at least have
pemanent attributes we can work with.  Even there, etymological
problems are plenty and acute.

Obviously I'm getting old and curmudgeonly.

Bob