Terms for "white man"?

[Tom Leonard]

Thought I'd add my 2 cents on this one........

My dad, Joe Rush (Ponca), told me on many, many, occasions that "wa'xe" was
an "abbreviation" of wana'xe (ghost or spirit). I've heard the same from
many other Ponca elders. He said when Poncas first saw a white man they
thought he was a ghost because of his pale color.

I've noted some Omaha names that lend credence to this "abbreviation" (if
you will).....Ma'chu Wa'xe...translated as "ghost bear".

Might be folk etymology.....don't know.....but it seems consistent across
the board with Ponca elders and some of the Omaha names that I've seen
translated.

For what it's worth,
TML


----- Original Message -----
From: "Rory M Larson" <rlarson at unlnotes.unl.edu>
To: <siouan at lists.colorado.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, March 09, 2004 8:30 PM
Subject: Terms for "white man"?


>
>
>
>
> I'm wondering about MVS terms for "white man".
>
>   Da:    was^i'c^uN   (nearly synonymous with wakhaN',
>                           according to Riggs.)
>
>   OP:    wa'xe        (wa-axe ??  axe = ??
>                           [x] is the voiceless form here.)
>
>   Osage: iNs^ta'-xiN  ("yellow-eyes", according to La Flesche.)
>
> What other ones do we have?  I'd be especially interested in
> Iowa, Oto, Hochunk and Kaw.
>
> Can anyone suggest a derivation for the OP term?  I think the
> explanation given in Fletcher and La Flesche (p. 81-82) is
> fanciful.  I was tempted to think of axe as "cry out for"
> something, e.g. war, but this verb has the voiced form of [x]
> according to Dorsey; thus ag^e, "cry out for", vs. wa'h^e,
> "white man".
>
> Thanks,
> Rory
>