Dhegiha prehistory, cont.

[rlarson at unlnotes01.unl.edu]

Bob writes:
> I've never been clear on this Omaha term /uhai/.  I would need a
> quotation or exact context in order to interpret it.  If there is
> reference to /uhai khe/ as a putative hydronym, then I'd say it
> has to be a river name, not a verb form, because of the article.
> Bodies of water 'lie'.  Travelers don't.  If it is a river name,
> Wally's contribution strongly suggests it is borrowed from English.
> Without a citation, I don't think it is possible to interpret
> /uhai/ alone.

I haven't seen it in Dorsey either, but it is
mentioned in a couple of spots at least in
Fletcher and La Flesche, "The Omaha Tribe".
It does use /khe/.  On page 94, it is listed
near the end of several pages of stream names
as

  Uha'i ke.....The river down which they   Ohio river.
                 came.


> When you say "By the Sacred Legend...", are you referring to
> some particular document?  Sacred legends are like rolling
> stones.  With the advent of modern scientific studies and
> literacy, they tend to gather moss.  I discount 20th cent.
> versions much more than earlier ones.  But they're important
> at least to consider.

Fletcher and La Flesche, chapter II, has a series
of anotated extracts from what they call the
'Sacred Legend'.  According to them, the Legend
was in the custody of the person who had custody
of the Sacred Pole.  This was Shudenaci, who turned
over the Pole and the Legend to the writers, who
deposited them in the Peabody Museum.  I don't
know where or if the full Legend exists written
down today, but I suppose the Peabody Museum
would be the place to start looking.

However, I was writing from memory last week,
without the book.  The part about the river
crossing is listed earlier in the book, on page
36.  It isn't clear here whether the accounts
quoted are coming from the Sacred Legend or not.
Following are the relevant paragraphs:

    The descriptive name Omaha (umoN'hoN, "against
  the current" or "upstream") had been fixed on the
  people prior to 1541.  In that year De Soto's
  party met the Quapaw tribe; quapaw, or uga'xpa,
  means "with the current" or "downstream," and is
  the complement of umoN'hoN, or Omaha.  Both names
  are said by the tribes to refer to their parting
  company, the one going up and the other going
  down the river.
    There are two versions of how this parting came
  about.  One account says that--

      The people were moving down the Uha'i ke river.
    When they came to a wide river they made skin
    boats in which to cross the river.  As they were
    crossing, a storm came up.  The Omaha and Iowa
    got safely across, but the Quapaw drifted down
    the stream and were never seen again until within
    the last century.  When the Iowa made their
    landing, they camped in a sandy place.  The strong
    wind blew the sand over the people and gave them
    a grayish appearance.  From this circumstance they
    called themselves Pa'xude, "gray head," and the
    Omaha have known them by that name ever since.
    The Iowa accompanied the Omaha up the Mississippi
    to a stream spoken of as "Raccoon river"--
    probably the Des Moines, and the people followed
    this river to its headwaters, which brought them
    into the region of the Pipestone quarry.

    The other version of the parting between the
  Omaha and the Quapaw is that--

      When the wide river was reached the people made
    a rope of grape vines.  They fastened one end on
    the eastern bank and the other end was taken by
    strong swimmers and carried across the river and
    fastened to the western bank.  The people crossed
    the river by clinging to the grapevine.  When
    about half their number were across, including
    the Iowa and Omaha, the rope broke, leaving the
    rest of the people behind.  Those who were left
    were the Quapaw.  This crossing was made on a
    foggy morning, and those left behind, believing
    that their companions who had crossed had followed
    the river downward on the western side, themselves
    turned downstream on the eastern side, and so the
    two groups lost sight of each other.

At the bottom is a note reading:

    Uha'i ke, "the river down which they came;" the
      name is still applied by the Omaha to the Ohio


Rory