Word for 'prairie'?

[Koontz John E]

On Wed, 28 Jan 2004, Rankin, Robert L wrote:
> JEK> I think OP uses ttaNde' in that sense.  I believe this must be a
> somewhat irregular correspondence for Dakota thiNta as in Teton.
>
> I did mention the thiNta/thiNtowaN 'Teton' use but missed the related
> (?) Omaha term.  I did search the Dorsey 1890 texts but found no
> reference to prairie except in things like prairie chicken/hen.  Same
> for plains.

I checked LaFlesche and found t.oN'-dse /htoN'ce/ 'the earth or ground;
prairie without trees' and t.oN'-dse-gi /htoN'ceki/ 'of or pertaining to
the prairie'.  He also gives t.oN'-de 'ground' and t.oN'-de da-pa 'round
hills' (rounded uplands?).  The glossing here may owe something to OP, and
the spelling with -de instead of -dse certainly owes something to OP
phonology.  On the other hand ta'ppa 'round' doesn't seem to occur in OP.

UmoN'hon Iye gives toNde /ttoN'de/ 'earth, ground'.  There are various
compounds, none of which seem to me to suggest prairie.  There isn't
anything for 'prairie', but 'plain' lists moN snoNsnoN 'flat ground'.

Dorsey's texts have tan'de (ke) /ttaN'de (khe)/ '(the) ground' (something
you can tread on, dig, measure), ttaN'de a'dhitta=xc^i snaN'snaN=xc^i
'ground near by, very level', ttaN'de maNtha'=ta 'into the ground'.

JEK