Grue

[Rankin, Robert L]

>My favorite reference on the subject of Omaha-Ponca ttu is a comment in an
article by, I think, Howard on Ponca archeology or anthropology in which he
mentions a stone that is called maNhinttu 'grue knife(stone)' in Omaha. He
takes this as 'bluestone', but comments that examples of the material that
he's seen seem more 'greenish' to him.  (I may have reversed the colors!)

Mrs. Rowe typically gave ttoho as 'blue, green' in Kaw, but when pressed to
distinguish the green end of that spectrum used the word "maNhiNttoho" with
1st syll accent for 'green'.  I always took this to mean 'grass grue', but
it could have been the 'knife' term Howard refers to.  I guess I'd better
listen for vowel length there too!  BTW 'grue' isn't my term; it's been used
by anthropologists for a long time.

Bob