Spiders, Trickster, and Whitemen (Re: wild cats etc)

[Koontz John E]

On Thu, 18 Jul 2002, David Costa wrote:
> Actually, the spider/trickster/white man terms in the Plains Algonquian
> languages can all be shown to have meant 'trickster' originally in
> Proto-Algonquian, not 'spider'. ...

I decided to try to summarize the tgerms for 'spider', 'Trickster', and
'whiteman' in Missisippi Valley.  I haven't tried to include secondary
considerations like what terms are used in English for 'Trickster', though
this can be interesting.  For example, I gather that the Mandan may
generally call him Whiteman in English, while the Omaha, having come to
calling monkeys Is^ti'nikhe in Omaha now call him Monkey in English.

If there's more interest, perhaps folks can add additional languages from
the rest of the family, or fill in some of the holes, correct
misimpressions, etc.

All of the 'whiteman' terms are under suspicion, often indicated in the
sources, of referring specifically to the French, originally, except for
those based on 'big knife', which presumably refer to 'American'. Note
that 'whiteman', though traditional, is something of an odd gloss.
Presumably it originates in European color-based terminologies - red men,
black men, white men, yellow men, too, for that matter.  But the Siouan
terms generally have no reference to color, and usually specifically
include both Euroamericans and Afroamericans.  Probably Asian Americans,
too, for what that's worth, though I'm not sure. Sometimes African
Americans are specifically distinguished as 'black whitemen'.

The general idea is apparently 'non-Native, not indigenous people' as
opposed to 'people of the usual kind' or indigenous Americans, who would
normally be identified in terms of ethnic group.

There are, of course, weakly developed terminologies for non-indigenous
ethnic groups, too, though this list usually stops at 'French' (the
unmarked case of normal non-indigenous people), 'British, Canadian',
'Spanish, Mexican', and the johnny-come-lately 'Americans, Virginians'.
There is sometimes a substitution of the 'American' term for the
'whiteman' or 'non-indigenous people' term, and there may be confusion in
the 'Spanish, Mexican' and 'French' terms due to the transfer of French
authority over the Louisinana (exercised from St. Louis) to the Spanish.

Dakotan

Sa  uNkto'mi        uNkto'mi       was^i'c^uN
Te  ikto'(mi)       ikto'(mi)      was^i'c^u(N)

Santee from Riggs and Williamson.  Teton from Buechel and Ingham. I
believe there are more variants of 'Trickster'. For 'whiteman', cf.
sic^uN, s^ic^uN 'spirit or spirit-like thing in a man which guards him
from birth against evil spirits' (Buechel).

Dhegiha

OP  ukki'gdhiske    is^ti'nikhe    wa'xe (not wa'ghe)
Ks  c^c^ixobe                      is^ta'xe
Os  hce'xope                       iNs^ta'xiN
Qu  moi'kka         ho'mittatta    is^ta'xe, is^ta'xi

Omaha-Ponca from Dorsey and Swetland & Stabler and LaFlesche.  Kansa and
Quapaw from Rankin.  Osage from LaFlesche.  The Omaha-Ponca 'spider' term
s glossed 'it weaves itself', but I suppose it could be 'it weaves for
itself'.  Kansa 'spider' looks like 'holy house', the Osage one like 'holy
buffalo'.  The Quapaw one resembles Quapaw mani'kka 'earth' (other Dhegiha
terms similar, with the -n- somewhat elidable).  The Kansa, Osage, and
Quapaw 'whiteman' terms are generally interpreted as 'yellow eyes', htough
it's a fricative gradation of zi 'yellow' and sometimes the vowel is -e.
Omaha-Ponca wa'xe is often explained as 'maker', but that would be wa'ghe
< wa-gaghe.  Unfortunately, transcriptions distinguishing x and gh are
scarce, other than Dorsey's.

IO  wagri' xa'xaj^e isj^iN'khi     ma'?uNkhe
                                   maNt^uNkhe, mat^?uNkhe ?'metal ...'
                                   mai?uN ?'knife doer'

The IO form for 'spider' is based on wagri' 'bug', but I'm not sure of
xa'xaj^e.  The unreduplkicated form xa'j^e is 'hay'.  There is also wagri'
xaN'xaNj^in~e 'swarming with maggots'.  Note that xaN'j^e ~ xaN'n~e
(similar, but not etymologically identical) is 'big'.  The terms for
'whiteman' are explained as 'iron worker, land worker', which might work
for the second set, cf. maNd^e' 'iron' (t^ = theta, d^ = edh).  UN is 'to
do', but uNkhe is less clear.  The male declarative is khe, but
declaratives are not usually (ever?) part of lexicalized forms in Siouan
languages.  The last looks like a fast speech rendition of something
beginning with maN(aN)'hiN 'knife'.

Wi  wikirihoo'kere  wakj^aN'ka=ga  waxobiN'niN 'spirit'
                                   waNaNksga' 'whiteman' (literally)
                                   maNiNxe'te 'big knife' ('American')
                                   ware'niNka 'work man'

The 'spider' term looks like 'scalp lock bug'.  I believe the final -ga of
'Trickster' is the demonstartive attached to names or first person kin
terms, etc., essentially a mark of respect, I think, or at least
formality.  The first 'whiteman' term incorporates *xop-riN 'be holy',
though this stem seems not to be found independently in Winnebago.  The
general root *xop- is found throughout Siouan, and xop-riN, with the same
auxiliary verb, occurs in Mandan.  The third version of 'whiteman' is
probably the usual 'big knife' term for 'American', though contracted
(maNaNhiN' 'knife' xete' 'big').

JEK