Sarpy

[Michael Mccafferty]

On Sat, 3 Apr 2004, Koontz John E wrote:

> One minor mystery in the Omaha and Ponca texts is that the trader Sarpy is
> referred to as Bac^c^i'.  Dorsey says that this is Peter G. Sarpy, and he
> seems to have been a trader for whom Joseph La Flesche worked when he was
> a young man.  The Sarpy family were prominent traders on the lower
> Missouri in the early days.  The Houck and Nasatir collections mention
> Bernal (Beral) Sarpy, Bernardo Sarpy (same as last?), De l'Or Sarpy,
> Gregoire (Gregorio) Sarpy, Jean Baptiste (Juan Bautista) Sarpy, and Lille
> Sarpy.
>
> It has occured to me that Bac^c^i might be a version of Baptiste.  (Which
> Dorsey spells Battiste in other French names, e.g., Battiste
> Deroin/Dorion.)  Jean Baptiste Sarpy was the older brother of Gregoire
> Sarpy, who I suppose might even be Pierre Gregoire Sarpy.

"Batticy" is the French nickname for "Baptiste". This comes about since
the p is not pronounced, i.e., "Baptiste" is [batis].

>
> Because Baptiste has an Omaha form Badi'ze (see below), we'd have to
> assume that Bac^c^i' has a different history, perhaps involving
> Ioway-Otoe, where t regularly becomes c^ before i, though I think the
> phonology of Canadian French is such that one needn't appeal to Ioway-Otoe
> to have t materialize as c^.
>
> It would have to be assumed that the name Bac^c^i' became fixed to members
> of the family Sarpy, and carried across regardless of their actual given
> name.
>
> Other French names I have noticed in the Dorsey texts are:
>
> Badi'ze (Battiste)
> Budhi't[t]e (glossed Charles Pepin, but maybe Hippolyte?)
> Dhawi'ini, Dhawi'na (David)
> (Dorsey is also given variously as Da'si [rarely] and Dha'si [commonly])
> HaNdhi' (Henry, Henri)
> J^o' (Joe, Joseph)
> Dhusi' (Lucy, Lucie)
> Mis^e'dha (Michel)
> Sasu' (Frank, Francis, Francois) (also given as just Frank)
> S^ani' (Charlie, Charles)
> Zuze'tte (Susette)
>

Interesting stuff.


> This may not be the complete list, because it has been compiled entirely
> by chance encounter.  In addition, given the importance of the trading
> connection with Omaha and Ponca history and the prominence of metis
> families in all lower Missouri Sioan groups, a fairly full colleftion of
> French names in Colonial use must have been available and in circulation.
>
> In particular, the town Rosalie is called Dhuza'dhi in Omaha.  In fact, I
> was told that Rosalie was an English version of the Omaha name Dhuza'dhi,
> which clearly implies that Dhuza'dhi is completely naturalized.  Of
> course, the town is named for Rosalie (LaFlesche) Farley, and as her Omaha
> name was probably Dhuza'dhi, then Rosalie really is just an English
> version of her Omaha name.
>
> I have also personally heard Me'dhi (Mary, Marie) in current use.
>
> The form Sasu' makes you wonder about the origin of the surname Sanssouci,
> although I think the latter is usually assumed to be a dit name.
>
> John E. Koontz
> http://spot.colorado.edu/~koontz
>
>
>

"Those are my principles.
If you don't like them,
I have others."

-Groucho Marx


"When I was born I was
so surprised that I didn't
talk for a year and a half."

-Gracie Allen