Tywappity Bottoms

[Alan Hartley]

> I am curious about this one.  Is there any yellowish ground around it?
> Zee-Owapi-Ekta, any Siouan languages have this habit of short cutting,
> oops, maybe I should use linguistic terminology...but anyway, it looks
> like ziwapita, there at that place where the yellow paint can be found.

Good suggestion, Violet. I noticed Sioux zi- 'yellow' but didn't think
about ocher. I don't have a clue whether there's any in that area. Does
anyone know if there's a Dhegiha 'yellow' word that fits? Or where
central Mississippi valley ocher came from?

Incidentally, Riggs gives makásaN 'whitish or yellowish clay' (maka
'earth' + saN 'whitish or yellowish'), makáto 'blue earth' (whence the
name of Mankato MN), and makáwase 'red earth used as paint'. As in many
Indian languages, the word for red clay as paint (wasé in Sioux) came to
be applied also to the traders' imported pigment, vermilion.

Thanks,

Alan