Meaning of Siouan word "Shke-ma."

[Tom Leonard]

> >>ha ni'kka bthe (ta ni'ke) egi's^e - Chief (commander) / you will
> be / you said  (as given by T. Leonard)
>
> Ths is certainly likely to be 'bthe' 'I go' or 'I become.'  It is used
> as an inchoative auxiliary as well as a main verb in modern Omaha.
> There's no need to reconstruct or posit it as bdhiN 'I am.'

I agree with this. It is certainly "bthe" - to become. In the recording it
is rendered as "btha". "Bthe" followed by "ta" (indicating future) often
drops to "btha" (e---> a). "ta ni'ke" was dropped to fit the melody. That's
fairly common in older songs.


>
> Also in
> >>I  ka-ga-ma  the,  i  shay  tho,  'you  said  he  was my friend!'
> (in original and R. Larson posting)
>
> the 'ma' is likely the progressive auxiliary 'ama' and not a particle
> based on moNthiN or a causative.
>

I agree with this also. In the recording it is rendered as "i-kHa-gya-ma".
The majority of the time this ends up being "i'kHage ama". In this case, it
could be "(w)i'kHage ama", the (w) being abbreviated in the song. This is
similar to "nu'da hi ama" (roughly, "those returning from war") being
rendered as "nu'da ya'ma" (e + a or i + a -----> ya). This is found in many
songs.

I have the whole song this way (without melody vocables):

As sung:
ha ni'kka btha i's^e
ha ni'kka btha i's^e
ha ni'kka btha i's^e
ha ni'kka btha i's^e
a's^oN tho i's^e
ha ni'kka btha i's^e

MoNc^Hu' s^ki'ma' ikHa'gya ma i'^se
a's^tho i's^e
ha ni'kka btha i's^e

Sung: ha ni'kka btha i's^e
Spoken: ha ni'kka bthe ta ni'ke egi's^e
Translation: ha ni'kka - chief or commander / bthe - to become / ta ni'ke -
2nd person future/ egi's^e -you said
 Free Translation: You said you will become chief

Sung: MoNc^Hu' s^ki'ma' ikHa'gya ma i'^se
Spoken: MoNc^Hu' s^ki'ma' wi'kHage ama egi'^se
Translation: MoNc^Hu - grizzly bear / s^ki'ma - no translation; said to
actually be nitta (ears) / wi'kHage - my friend or i'kHage - friend; likely
to be wi'kHage / ama - auxiliary; denoting single person in motion or plural
subject / egi'^se - you said
Free Translation: Bear Ears, my friend, you said

Sung: a's^oN tho i's^e
Spoken: s^oN tho egi's^e
Translation: s^oN tho - in a little while or in a short time / egi's^e - you
said
Free Translation: In a little while, you said

I'd like to point out that the in the referrenced transcript the performers
often say "we don't know the meaning of that word" or "I can't translate
that". That doesn't mean that there isn't a translation. It can sometimes
mean "I don't know how to translate that into English" - or - "It's too
difficult to translate" -or- "I don't know how to say it". English was not
their first language. I've run into this a lot. One word in Ponca can
translate into an entire concept in English requiring a lot of explanation.
Unless the performer and/or the transcriber wants to delve into the details,
it often gets passed over. In this particular case, the emphahsis was on
songs and a rough translation (for non-Indians), not linguistic details.
This transcript has very general and loose translations.

Also, I should point out, these songs being discussed are "war dance songs",
commonly used at powwows. They are typically discussed quite openly.