Sunroot use among First Nations

[Robert L. Rankin]

> 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.

OK.  The *hpaNxi term is, as I recall, only found in the Mississippi
Valley Siouan subgroup.  The *wVro term is pan-Siouan and there is an
potential reflex in Catawba also.

> 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.

Right.  I know they exist for Menomini and Oneida and I think Fox at
least.  Sorry, I forgot about your recent move.  Your office probably
looks like mine.

> Bob, wasn't somebody editing the Winnebago ms. for publication?

Yes, Kelly Kindscher and someone else I believe published it but didn't
get the vowel length in every instance.  One could try just doing a name
search on K.K. using Netscape and see if it emerges.

Bob