sunflowers

[Mark J Awakuni-Swetland]

BOB,
Grandma Elizabeth Stabler's lexicon notes sunflower as "zha'xtha zi" or 
"yellow blossom weed", I think.
I will try to check the JOD slip file microfilm later this morning.

Uthighide

Mark Awakuni-Swetland

ONska abthiN! Thi shti?



"Rankin, Robert L" <rankin at ku.edu> 
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11/05/2007 08:52 PM
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Subject
sunflowers






All,
 
I've had an enquriy from an archaeologist at Florida State U. about the 
words for 'sunflower' (Helianthus).  The comparative dictionary lacks any 
general term for the plant or its flower although there is a cognate set 
for its root, which was eaten.  The archaeologists are interested in the 
seeds and the domestication of same.  They're trying to determine whether 
the terms are similar in North America and Mexico, as there is some 
question whether Mexican and northern domestication of the seed plant were 
independent developments.
 
As far as I can tell there is virtually no uniformity across Siouan.  Here 
is what I have thus far:
 
Hidatsa:  ma:pha:      'day+flower' or 'morning flower'
Mandan:  ma?pe?     'day+flower' or 'morning flower'
Dakota:  waxcazi thaNka  'flower+yellow big'
Kansa:   mittogaxle   'sunflower'  mi 'sun+?'
Osage:   miihtoNeli  'sunflower'  mii 'sun+?', also
                xlazi            'flower+yellow' in term for August.
Ofo:         i:la akikcehi 'sun+flower' possibly calqued from English?
 
Does any one of you have additional terms?  We ought to be able to find 
words in Crow, Ioway-Otoe, Omaha-Ponca and Winnebago-Hocank at least. 
Since probably every one of the above terms is simply descriptive, it 
seems likely that they won't find matches with any Mexican words.  Any 
additional help would be appreciated. 
 
Thanks,
 
Bob

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