[Fwd: poison ivy]

[RLR]

> Here's what Buechel's Lakota-English dictionary search
> on "ivy" yields:

> wikhos^ka thaphez^uta, n. The small western poison
> ivy. Rhus rydbergii.The sumac family. When touched it
> causes irritations, hence the name. It is not a
> medicine plant. Cf. wikhos^ka.
> wikhos^ka, n. A venereal disease of women.
>
> cha~iyuwi iyecheca, n. The Virginia creeper, the
> woodbine, the false grape, the American
> ivy or the five-leaved ivy. The vine family. The roots
> are bad.

Symbols s^ and z^ are used for the English sounds "sh" and "zh" here.

I did a computer search of Buechel for wikhoshka, ikhoshka and just
khoshka. It turned up a disease of horses' hooves and also entries:

khoshka'  'be affected by veneral disease'
khoshkalaka 'young man'
wikhoshkalaka 'young woman'

While I have to admit that John's discussion of Winnebago 'moon' doesn't
yet convince me that the moon was described as blistered or pockmarked
(something I can only see with a telescope), the Dakotan "wikhoshkalaka"
'young woman' might have something to do with the Winnebago term and
also the moon's being commonly thought of in Siouan-speaking cultures as
feminine or womanly.

But returning to poison ivy, the Dakotan form, kindly provided by Connie
Xmelnitsky, can apparently be analyzed as:

wi-khos^ka tha-phez^uta
fem-VD     its-plant

My next question would relate to what sorts of venereal infections were
extant in North America before contact. But whatever they were, the
Lakota speakers are comparing them to the poison ivy rash/blistering.

Bob