Terms for "white man"

[R. Rankin]

Butt in any time.  This is useful to know, since many don't write aspiration in
Dakotan and guys like me, who study other subgroups, don't always have a way of
knowing which stops are "exploded" and which are plain.

I'm happy with the 'live spirit' explanation, and that seems to be what Powers
was referring to also.

Bob

----- Original Message -----
From: "Louis Garcia" <Louis_Garcia at littlehoop.cc>
To: <siouan at lists.colorado.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, March 10, 2004 3:40 PM
Subject: Re: Terms for "white man"


> Hi gang;
> I hate to bud in here because you guys talk linguistics like a wohdkawakan
> (sacred language). The adverage non-lingueistic educated guy can't tell what
> you are saying half the time.
> Here is my two cents:
> Wasicun (wa= noun marker, sicun = a live spirit)
> A live spirit is a sicun, a dead spirit is nagi. Hence wanagi is a ghost.
> Wasisun is someone who has or is wonderous (steel knifes, guns, traps, etc).
> Wasin icu =(he takes the wet slippery fat) doesn't fit because the 'c' in
> icu is exploded. So the two words are pronounced differently. You don't
> explode the 'c' in Wasicun.
> Now on to Big Knifes -Minahanska.
> David Costa send a wonderful explanination for the term.
> One must also remember that various tribes from many lingustic families
> participated in the French and Indian War, Revolutionary War, and the War of
> 1812. The Dakota helped the British in the last two events. I believe the
> term big Knife was distributed amomg many tribes when they were allied
> during the wars.
> later,
> Louie
>
>
>