... Word for "Chief" ...

[Koontz John E]

On Mon, 16 Apr 2001, Lance Foster wrote:
> There seem to be two Chiwere words/variants for "chief."

> 1. Kihega/Gaxige/Kahegi etc (Ioway names that translate as 'chief'; I
> also think it relates to some other Siouan names for 'chief' -in Osage
> for example?)

The sets for 'chief' are pretty irregular and are probably loans from
somewhere.  At one point Allan Taylor suggested Spanish Cacique (from a
South American source, I think).  The OP root is gahige (~ hagi) if I
recall.

> 2. Wangegihi etc (fr. Wange 'man' + gi 'towards something' + hi 'to
> cause' = 'Causes a person to go [do? something]', relating to the
> authority of a chief

You could render gihi as 'send(er)'.

The concept of 'chief' is fairly complex in Omaha culture, with different
levels and kinds of rights and responsibilities.  There are different
terms for the various kinds, as I recall.  And, there's also a current,
constitutional system, too, that's probably more useful for most purposes.

JEK