land=mother???

[R. Rankin]

I can't think of anything in Siouan or Muskogean
languages that would approach this.  There are several
senses of Earth, of course.  The notion of "Mother
Earth" (and "Father Sky") seems to be central to a lot
of early Indo-European religious thinking.  The
concepts are discussed in some detail in that book on
Indo-European by Mallory.  If you need the
bibliographic information, I have it at the office.

My recollection is that some of the Southeastern tribes
had very definite ideas of land ownership.  The best
sources to consult on those groups would probably be
the large compendia published by the Bureau of American
Ethnology by John R. Swanton, but I have no specific
references to send you to.

Bob Rankin

----- Original Message -----
From: Catherine Rudin/HU/AC/WSC <CaRudin1 at wsc.edu>
To: <siouan at lists.colorado.edu>
Cc: Randy Bertolas/SS/AC/WSC <raberto1 at wsc.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, August 21, 2002 1:13 PM
Subject: land=mother???


>
> A colleague here at Wayne State is writing something
about Native American
> vs. European views of "the land" and asked me if any
Native American
> languages have a word for land that means/is derived
from "mother" (or
> presumably vice versa).  I said not to my knowledge
but I'd ask around a
> bit.    So....  Anyone know of any such thing in
Siouan?   Or elsewhere?
> He'd probably be interested in any other metaphorical
ways of refering to
> land too, and anything that indicates land conceived
of as a possession (or
> not).
>
> I'll forward anything interesting to him, or if you
"reply to all" he
> should get it.  Thanks,
> Catherine
>
>