Osage

[Wallace Chafe]

Dear Siouanists,

This is irrelevant to the Siouan discussion, but I have to throw it in
anyway. Seneca ohi:yo? (with a Y) actually refers to what is conceived of
as a single river from its source in Pennsylvania to its confluence with
the Mississippi. In English we conceive of this as two rivers, the
Allegheny (in NY spelled Allegany) and the Ohio, changing its identity in
Pittsburgh. The -h- means "river", but the -iyo- part is a little harder
to translate. Perhaps "nice river" comes closer. "Beautiful" as an
aesthetic judgment doesn't quite do it. The cognate in Tuscarora means
"big", but the other languages seem to have moved away from the size
meaning alone. It's interesting to compare English "grand", with both the
size and value judgments. Seneca, at least nowadays, has moved toward the
value end of it. Wi:yo:h (without any incorporation) means "it's good" or
"nice".

The Osage name has been borrowed into Seneca as wasa:se?, which is the
name for the war dance.

Wally Chafe

> There are also some etymological problems.  For example, Ohio actually
> comes from something like Seneca ohi:o?  'Beautiful River' (the
> Allegheny), probably via French, because the English pronunciation acts
> like a spelling pronunciation of a fairly accurate rendition of the Seneca
> name in French orthography.  If it did come from a name used by this
> wandering collection of Siouan tribes, what process would explain its
> transmission into English?  For that matter, if a suitable process exists,
> why wouldn't it transmit the Osage equivalent Opha=p=a instead?