gypsum or "mica"

[bi1 at soas.ac.uk]

John
Interesting that you said makha saN, I was going to hazard that a s
a guess.  The white cliffs of Dover, so I was informed by a Lakota
veteran who had seen them, are called Maya SaN.  They are of
course chalk, but look much like gypsum from a distance.
Bruce
On 8 Aug 2002, at 22:35, Koontz John E wrote:

> On Thu, 8 Aug 2002, Patricia Albers wrote:
> > Would anyone on the listserve happen to know the Lakota word for
> > gypsum, also loosely called mica?
>
> Interesting!  I'd never heard of a connection in English terminology.
> When you read of mica as something traded, say, within the Hopewell
> Interaction Sphere (term?), which do they mean?
>
> Here are a few ideas struggling toward being a non-answer.
>
> I checked in Ingham, Buechel, and Williamson without any luck.  I suspect
> this simply reflects a hole in these dictionaries' coverage.  (See Osage
> below.)
>
> The only minerals listed in Buechel (under stones) are:
>
> khaNghi't[h]ame 'black shale' (a black. smooth stone found along the White
>      River)
> wahiN ~ waNhi 'flint'
>
> Yuwi'pi is defined as 'transparent stones' in the same article, which to
> me suggests quartz or some other mineral at least translucent, but I am
> not a student of yuwipi.  I did notice yuwi'pi was^i'c^uN 'a sacred round
> hard stone that is supposed to have power in the hands of those who have
> dreamed' - for those who have been following the was^i'c^uN discussion.
>
> A syllable like 'me' is quite unusual in Lakota.  It reflects
> Proto-Mississippi Valley *W ((as opposed to *w), which normally becomes b
> in Santee as depicted in Riggs and turns up as w or m in Buechel.  I don't
> know why sometimes m (maybe when the underlying stem is BaN? - cf. Riggs).
>
> Since Riggs gives be 'to hatch, as fowls.  Same as maN" I assume that me
> (mAN, a nasal ablauting stem?) had a similar gloss at some point, but is
> now moribund.  It doesn't occur in Buechel - and neither does we or maN.
> That suggests that khaNghi' ['crow'] tha [ALIENABLE] me {cf. be or baN?)
> means something like 'crow('s) egg(s)' or 'crow('s) hatchling(s)'.
>
> The root hiN in 'flint' is pan-Siouan and tends not to change much, except
> that it is sometimes hard hit by contracting and largely hidden in
> compound terms for 'knife' or 'projectile point'.
>
> ===
>
> I found both terms in LaFlesche's Osage Dictionary:
>
> moNiN'hka ska 'gypsum' (literally 'white earth' or 'white clay')
>
> iN'hkoNpa 'mica; a tumbler for drinking water'
>      (literally iN 'stone' + hkoNpa 'be light, transparent')
>      The stem hkoNpa is not listed separately.
>
> I also noticed:
>
> iN'hkoNhkoNdha 'friable rock or stone.  A symbol used in rituals.'
>
> ===
>
> Back tracking these in Lakota, I did find in Buechel:
>
> ma[n]k[h]a saN 'whitish or yellowish clay'  (Vermillion is 'red clay')
>
> And then, of course, yuwi'pi is/are described as (a) transparent stone(s).
>
> ===
>
> The Omaha Pebble Society refers to the pebble as iN'kkugdhi 'translucent
> stone'.  The form kku'gdhi is cognate with Lakota khogli 'translucent,
> clear'.
>
> I apologize for the use of "NetSiouan" orthogaphy.  I can clarify it if
> you need to know more standard lettering.
>
> JEK
>


Dr. Bruce Ingham
Reader in Arabic Linguistic Studies
SOAS