Omaha-Ponca words

[Koontz John E]

On Sun, 26 Sep 2004, Jonathan Holmes wrote:
> Thank you so much...this helps a great deal.

You're welcome!  Of course, the best I can offer is a linguistic
assessment.  I don't know much about societies per se - certainly not from
personal investigation.  The Omaha are proud of the Hethushka and its
history, and often mention aspects of it in passing, and, of course,
there's an extensive literature on age-grading, military, and social
societies that a linguist can't help but fall over occasionally.

Incidentally, I've learned from Tom Leonard that the standard spelling of
Hethushka among the Ponca is Hethuska, though the s is pronounced sh.  I'm
not actually sure of the usualy Omaha spelling.  My version "Hethushka"
may well be a scholarly artifact, picked up from old sources and/or
derived from Dorsey's spelling he<cent-sign>ucka.

> > Camp Crier - wajey'pa or watsi'pxa or wa'gra ? - literally means: "?"
>
> waje'pa 'crier, herald, announcer' It's a wa-derivative of a root jeppa or
> deppa that means what it means. I don't know of that root in another
> word, but that doesn't mean it doesn't occur.

By this I just meant that I couldn't find such a form attested in a quick
search, but that if various speakers were asked they might be able to
think of relevant forms that hadn't made it into the literature.

Watsipxa looks like Osage, because of ts and px. In fact, it suggests
wahtsipxa or watsipxa - in the usual scholarly orthographies waccipha or
wacipha - which looks like an Osage version of the Omaha-Ponca form,
especially if the putative Osage form is wacipha and the OP form is
actually wajepHa (with aspirate p).  The e and i vowels don't match, but
there may be some irregularity in the development of one of the forms, or
perhaps I'm right about the loanword guess.

> > Advisor - waygon'say ? - literally means: "?"
>
> we'goNze 'advisor, to advise' from goN'ze 'to demonstrate, to teach'.
> This seems to be a wa-derivative of a dative form gi'goNze.

In other words, gi'goNze 'to demonstrate to, to teach (someone)'.

> > Cook - ooth'na or uh'hon or u'hon or ohan'cigre ? - literally means:
> > "cook"?
>
> ushna (or ushnoN?) ???
> u'haN 'cook; to cook'
> si'gre 'track'

I assume c = s, but if it's ts, then chile (OP would be tHigthe) might be
one of the 'suddenly, all at once' auxiliaries.

> > Lady Singer - uthsa'ze or hola'ze - literally means: "?"
>
> I don't recognize these forms. l for gdh or xdh usually suggests Osage or
> Kaw sources, as does ths if it means ts. It looks like there might be a
> root -xdhaze (Os. -(x)laze) involved.

I tried unsuccessfully to locate the Omaha expression for the shrill
ululation that women make, but I couldn't find it by searching the list.
I though the folks at the U of Nebraksa might have turned it up recently.
The intitial syllable ho- might represent hu 'voice'.  This would be ho
in Osage and other Dhegiha languages.