gypsum or "mica"

[ROOD DAVID S]

I don't know much about ceremonial affairs, including vocabulary, but
etymologically _icaga_ is the verb _kaga_ 'make' with an instrumental
prefix, so it literally means 'to make with, to use to make', and should
take objects that are tools or ingredients.  Any verb with this extremely
vague meaning is of course subject to many kinds of specialization.
It sounds like the meanings you've uncovered are exactly the kinds
of semantic narrowings one would expect -- and the eytmology is, of
course, no help whatsoever when that happens.



David S. Rood
Dept. of Linguistics
Univ. of Colorado
295 UCB
Boulder, CO 80309-0295
USA
rood at colorado.edu

On Fri, 9 Aug 2002, Patricia Albers wrote:

>
> 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
>