Iskousogos (Re: Siouan etymology?)

[Koontz John E]

On Mon, 7 Mar 2005, Rankin, Robert L wrote:
> It's very widespread, so I suspect that dialectally it's rather old.  It
> is a characteristic found in Andalucia and Extremadura in Spain and in
> various places all over Spanish America.

I think it's considered that most Colonial dialects reflect Andalusian
roots, so if it occurred there in the 17th Century it is at least
plausible to figure it into this analysis.

I know it's found in Argentina.  I have a friend from there who once said
solemnly in the course of a discussion of Spanish promunication "Yo nunca
aspiro" 'I myself never aspirate' pronounced [j^o nu<ng>ka ahpiro].  And
in Chile, since an exchange student from there once told an astounded
Spanish class I was in that he was pleased to be here in loh ehtaoh unioh.
I'm not sure it wasn't [lo? extao? unio?].  It was a long time ago, and
before I had taken any linguistics courses, but I don't think I've ever
heard anyone speak Spanish quite like that since though I've run into a
few Chilenos.

> There's evidence of it at least since the 17th century.  If it was
> characteristic of early expeditions to the Plains, the pronunciation
> would have been something like [ehkansaqueh], with the initial e-
> epenthetic.

If /hk/ was heard and rendered as "sc" it would get the initial epenthetic
e (prothetic e?) automatically.

> It may actually be from the Coronado expedition.

I'll look this up.  A quick check suggests that escansaques figures on the
web entirely in the context of a foregone conclusion that it is a synonym
of Kansa.  One reference did attribute it to the Onate Expedition of 1601,
though I'm not positive that's right.