TETON

[Koontz John E]

On Sun, 5 May 2002, Alan H. Hartley wrote:
> Just came across the following in J. E. Colhoun _Exped. St. Peter's
> River_ (1824, p.424):
>
> "We were told that the Iawas were formerly a band of the Dacotas, and
> that they were distinguished by the term of Titatons, but that they
> separated long since, and that their language had been so much altered
> as to be unintelligible to the Dacotas."
>
> This looks like thiNta 'prairie' + -thuN(-waN) 'village', which would
> support the 'prairie-village' etymology of TETON (if this supposed name
> for the Iowas is in fact identical with TETON).

It certainly looks like a version of this analysis, with an earlier date
than the one in Riggs (which may be in a footnote by Dorsey in Dorsey's
edition - I forget).  Of course, it's a somewhat Dakota-centric appraisal
of the relationship between the Dakota(n) and Iowa et al.!  I haven't run
into the 'prairie people' terminology for the Iowa before.  I hope to
order the Plains volume pair for the Handbook soon, and that may
illuminate matters for me.

Have I mentioned on the list before that I wonder if thiNta might not be
connected etymologically with OP ttaNde (and similar in other Dhegiha)?
The nasal vowel differs, but we have some other irregular nasal vowel
correspondences.

The closest thing to an external connection in a Dakota band name that I
can think of is that there are one or more bands called waz^az^a which
looks more like a loan from Dhegiha waz^az^e 'Osage' than a cognate.  Note
that waz^az^e 'Osage' is a common Dhegiha clan name and only leads to
Osage as a tribal name from that.

JEK