gypsum or "mica"

[Patricia Albers]

I have also explored all of these sources and came up with what you
kindly shared from Lakota/Dakota sources but the Osage words I did
not know. There is really a derth of linguistic material, as far as I
can tell, on words for varieties of stone, clay, and mineral in
Lakota and Dakota dictionary sources. In this regard,  I have  been
trying to track down the term icage, which Walker (1983, pp. 220-221,
222-223, 227-228) gives to describe 'white fruits' growing under the
earth, suggesting the crystalline formations in caves. In Walker's
literary rendition of the Lakota genesis story, Taku Skan Skan made
entrails from these fruits and molded a male and a female figure (pp.
225-226). Like the Cheyennes, the Lakotas sprinkled powdered gypsum
on the ground to mark off the altar at their Sun Dance (Densmore
1918, p. 122. The Cheyenne sometimes refer to gypsum as "frost."
Could icage  come from the word caga (Riggs 1968, p. 84; Buechel
1970, p. 113). Icage means "something to make with" (Riggs (Riggs
1968, p.171; Buechel 1970, p. 199).  Another and probably related
word, icago, refers to a mark or line that is drawn or sketched on
something (Buechel, p. 199),and Buechel also gives wakicaga as a name
for a sacred ceremony (Buechel 1970, p. 835).
	Yes, yuwi'pi are transparent stones,including the crystalline
ones that ants push up from their underground tunnels.  Another word
used for stones with transparent qualities was Inyan zanzan in
Williamson and also in one of the texts in the Buechel collection.




>On Thu, 8 Aug 2002, Patricia Albers wrote:
>>  Would anyone on the listserve happen to know the Lakota word for
>>  gypsum, also loosely called mica?
>
>Interesting!  I'd never heard of a connection in English terminology.
>When you read of mica as something traded, say, within the Hopewell
>Interaction Sphere (term?), which do they mean?
>
>Here are a few ideas struggling toward being a non-answer.
>
>I checked in Ingham, Buechel, and Williamson without any luck.  I suspect
>this simply reflects a hole in these dictionaries' coverage.  (See Osage
>below.)
>
>The only minerals listed in Buechel (under stones) are:
>
>khaNghi't[h]ame 'black shale' (a black. smooth stone found along the White
>      River)
>wahiN ~ waNhi 'flint'
>
>Yuwi'pi is defined as 'transparent stones' in the same article, which to
>me suggests quartz or some other mineral at least translucent, but I am
>not a student of yuwipi.  I did notice yuwi'pi was^i'c^uN 'a sacred round
>hard stone that is supposed to have power in the hands of those who have
>dreamed' - for those who have been following the was^i'c^uN discussion.
>
>A syllable like 'me' is quite unusual in Lakota.  It reflects
>Proto-Mississippi Valley *W ((as opposed to *w), which normally becomes b
>in Santee as depicted in Riggs and turns up as w or m in Buechel.  I don't
>know why sometimes m (maybe when the underlying stem is BaN? - cf. Riggs).
>
>Since Riggs gives be 'to hatch, as fowls.  Same as maN" I assume that me
>(mAN, a nasal ablauting stem?) had a similar gloss at some point, but is
>now moribund.  It doesn't occur in Buechel - and neither does we or maN.
>That suggests that khaNghi' ['crow'] tha [ALIENABLE] me {cf. be or baN?)
>means something like 'crow('s) egg(s)' or 'crow('s) hatchling(s)'.
>
>The root hiN in 'flint' is pan-Siouan and tends not to change much, except
>that it is sometimes hard hit by contracting and largely hidden in
>compound terms for 'knife' or 'projectile point'.
>
>===
>
>I found both terms in LaFlesche's Osage Dictionary:
>
>moNiN'hka ska 'gypsum' (literally 'white earth' or 'white clay')
>
>iN'hkoNpa 'mica; a tumbler for drinking water'
>      (literally iN 'stone' + hkoNpa 'be light, transparent')
>      The stem hkoNpa is not listed separately.
>
>I also noticed:
>
>iN'hkoNhkoNdha 'friable rock or stone.  A symbol used in rituals.'
>
>===
>
>Back tracking these in Lakota, I did find in Buechel:
>
>ma[n]k[h]a saN 'whitish or yellowish clay'  (Vermillion is 'red clay')
>
>And then, of course, yuwi'pi is/are described as (a) transparent stone(s).
>
>===
>
>The Omaha Pebble Society refers to the pebble as iN'kkugdhi 'translucent
>stone'.  The form kku'gdhi is cognate with Lakota khogli 'translucent,
>clear'.
>
>I apologize for the use of "NetSiouan" orthogaphy.  I can clarify it if
>you need to know more standard lettering.
>
>JEK
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