Terms for "white man"?

[Rory M Larson]

Thanks for your coins, Tom!

I'm left wondering about that [x].  Isn't the [x]
in wana'xe, "ghost" or "spirit", the softer, voiced type:
wana'g^e rather than wana'h^e ?  And isn't wa'xe pronounced
with the unvoiced [x], wa'h^e ?  I know these are confused
in our usual orthography, but our Omaha speakers still seem
able to distinguish them.

I'd certainly like to believe this interpretation, though.
It would sure fit nicely with the Dakotan was^i'c^uN
"ghost" etymology.

Rory





                      "Tom Leonard"
                      <tleonard at prodigy.ne        To:       <siouan at lists.colorado.edu>
                      t>                          cc:
                      Sent by:                    Subject:  Re: Terms for "white man"?
                      owner-siouan at lists.c
                      olorado.edu


                      03/09/2004 11:26 PM
                      Please respond to
                      siouan






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