s^aaN for Sioux

[Tom Leonard]

>>Underlyingly s^aaN 'Sioux' is two syllables.......

I think that was the point the Ponca man was trying to get across in my
previous story - that the word s^aN for Sioux was purposefully changed to a
two syllable word. I imagine it could all boil down to a folk etymology, but
it was rather comical at the time.

I've heard several Ponca elders translate "s^ai ethe" or "s^ahi ethe" as
"Cheyenne", but being derived from "s^aN" (Sioux) and "ethe" (relatives) or
"relatives of the Sioux". In light of the discussion, would you suppose this
as a folk analysis?



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Koontz John E" <John.Koontz at colorado.edu>
To: "Siouan" <siouan at lists.colorado.edu>
Sent: Saturday, July 08, 2006 12:55 AM
Subject: Re: s^aaN for Sioux


On Thu, 6 Jul 2006, Alan H. Hartley wrote:
> > Riggs (Dakota English Dict. (1890) 91) etymologizes Dakota čaŋo´na

Shorn of diacritics, the first version looks like AMaAkoAna at my end.

> > (c^aNo'na), a subgroup of the Yanktonais, as 'wood hitters'. (I don't
> > know the Net Siouan for eng, hence the N. If Riggs' aŋ is more properly
> > rendered now as ą (a-hook; Latin small letter A with ogonek), then aN is
> > the correct Net Siouan.)
>
> But Hdbk. N. Amer. Indians XIII (2001) 757 says Saone is of unknown
> original form and etymology.

I doubt the Riggs and other etymologies I've seen.  The Handbook is being
reasonable and cautious, but I suspect something like OP s^aaN' is the
underlying form.  There's no connection with Dakota s^aN 'vagina', though
that similarity seems to have been noticed as a potential problem.  For
cognates of s^a cf. Winnebago s^aa, or Mandan sa ~ sare (i.e., sa(r)-)
'vulva, vagina'.

Underlyingly s^aaN 'Sioux' is two syllables, though it my recollection of
the phonetics is something like s^auN, with uN reduced almost to w.

For the connection of OP s^aaN' (the Handbook cites Ponca s^a),
augumenting the CSD with the Handbook, 13:750-1, cf.

Ks s^ahaN'

Quapaw s^ahaN' is said to be 'Cheyenne', but I think this is late
confusion with the very similar s^ahi(a) word for 'Cheyenne'.

IO s^a'haN ~ s^a
Wi s^aahaNaN'  (s^aawiN' 'Sioux woman')

The MVS forms suggest *s^ahaN.

Further afield, perhaps with sound symbolic shift of s^ to x, note Mandan
xaN(nuNmaNk) 'Sioux', literally xaN-person.  This was interpreted by
Hollow as involving xaN(h)- 'grass'.  I imagine the etymology was offered
by his consultants.  In xaN(h)- the (h) represents the alternation between
xaN (generally in compounds and syntactically subordinate contexts) and
xaNhe (independent) in xaN ~ xaNhe 'grass'.  The Handbook 18:751 cites
Mauricio Mixco for xaNhnuNuNmaNk 'grass person'.  The length of uN
suggests Mauricio is reporting a personal hearing (Hollow omits length),
but I think the -h- reflects Mauricio's own penchant for using Hollow's
underlying or "pre-Mandan" forms as surface spellings.  That is, I suspect
the h is not audible.  While xaN(h)- clearly does mean 'grass' in some
contexts, I am not sure that it means that in the context of
xaNnuN(uN)maNk, whether or not the h is properly considered as present.

I wonder if this folk analysis ties in, however, with the northern
tendency to refer to the Hethushka in its Sioux form as the "Grass Dance."

Also possibly relevant:  Arikara sananat and Pawnee cararaat 'Sioux;
enemy'.  I think these have no etymology as such.  I assume the sana-
and cara- parts are the relevant ones.

Note also Miami-Illinois s^aaha and as^aaha, Fox as^aaha, Kickapoo
wasaaha, Shawnee s^aha.  These forms suggest something like *was^aaha, I
think, but the lack of nasalization in the final vowel seems to me to
indicate that these terms have been borrowed from a Siouan source or
sources.

If the the Siouan data support *s^ahuN I'd be tempted to suggest s^ahaN
meant, historically, s^ah Cree' + ?uN 'do', i.e., 'act the Cheyenne;
behave like a Cree'.

Of course, Dakota s^aoN, saoN - SauN to use the CSD convention of S for
s ~ s^ ~ x - may well suggest *s^ahuN, but IO and Winnebago should also
have uN.  Since they have aN, this is a problem.