Sunroot use among First Nations

[Koontz John E]

On Tue, 1 Feb 2000, Robert L. Rankin wrote:
> I guess I'm behind the curve on this one.  I thought Terry was referring
> to the term that crops up (pun intended) in Dakotan as mdo/blo <*wVRo.

I think I have the terms sorted properly.  That's the *pro < **wVro
'(wild) potato' stem.  The vegetable that gave Trickster gas ...  At least
as Gilmore and Dorsey have them sorted out.

> In any event, it might be worthwhile calling his attention to those
> ethnobotanies by Huron Smith.  I don't currently have the biblio nearby,
> but John would.

Ah, now you've put me on the spot.  There's a series of these, published
by the Milwaukee Museum of Natural History.  H.K. Smith visited most
(all?) of the tribes resident in Wisconsin and published lists of terms
with some comentary in the Museum's proceedings.  As he was in the process
of editing the Oneida and Winnebago ones, if I recall properly, he took
the family out for a drive one Sunday in the 1920's and they were all
killed in a collision at a train crossing - a sad event recalling the
later fate of the Chapmans.  The uncompleted manuscripts for these are in
the ms.  holdings of the Museum and somewhere I have xeroxes of these
obtained through the good offices of Nancy Lurie.

Bob, wasn't somebody editing the Winnebago ms. for publication?  (Return
service barely clears the net.)

Unfortunately, this portion of my office is still not unpacked from my
move.  If Terry or anyone else is interested, I will do the necessary
excavation.  By the way, if you need a new snail mail address - let me
know!

JEK