Osage

[Koontz John E]

On Tue, 22 Jan 2002, carolyn quintero wrote:
> Chiming in on Osage, I can tell you that ni 'water' + ohkaN'ska 'in the
> middle'  explains the term popularly glossed as 'children of the middle
> waters'.   Osages do not call themselves this, but rather waz^a'z^e.

I've looked further at this 'middle' term.  LaFlesche, in the his Osage
dictionary, gives u-ckoN'[-]cka (p. 166b) or /uskoN'ska/ 'directly in the
center of, in the middle'.  However, he also gives u-k.oN'-cka (p. 172b)
/ukkoN'ska/ 'the center'.  Under this last he mentions /ni'uskoNska/
'center of the waters (the earth)'.  He goes on to add 'This was the name
given to a subgens of the water division (Wa-zha-zhe gens) of the Osage
tribal organization.'  Under Ni'-u-k.oN-cka (Wa-zha-zhe) (p. 110b) he says
'the ancient name of the Wa-zha'-zhe and signifies they of the middle
waters.  Wa-t.se'-tsi, also of the Wa-zha'-zhe, signifies they who came
from the stars; both belong to the same gens.'  It's clear here that he's
talking about the Waz^'az^e clan, not the Waz^a'z^e or Osage tribe.  It
also appears that the expression is a trope for 'earth'.

I guess I don't know at this point if the term is attested elsewhere as
applying to the whole of the Osage (and Kaw).

Incidentally, I looked in Omaha-Ponca and found:

JOD 1890:151.6
niN'  ukkaN'ska          i'daNbe            ahi=bi=kki
water in a straight line through the middle when they arrived

The term occurs consistently as 'in a straight line', 'right in a line
with', and 'just in a line with', sometimes paired with i'daNbe 'in the
middle'.

We also find uskaN'ska(=xti) 'in a (very) straight line with'.  This term
occurs in a question form, too, a'wath=uskaNska, though this is plainly
a'wathe + uskaNska 'where in a place' + 'in a straight line with'.  I also
see that uskaNskaN 'in a straight line with' occurs.  For the moment I'd
have to characterize the three forms as irregular variants.  I have the
impression that 'in a line with' means aimed at or falling on an extension
of a line from something or between two things.

It looks like there is some shift in meaning between Omaha-Ponca and
Osage.

JE Koontz