SHTUBA inquiry

[Rory M Larson]

Hi Justin,

That's interesting, and I guess that is another way the term could have 
come about.

I'm having a little trouble with the etymology of it though.  I'm sure 
you're right that the first part is is^ta, 'eye', + o-, 'in'/'on'.  But 
wouldn't the next element be a verb?  Semantically, 'eye-on-nose' seems a 
little odd anyway.  Is there anything else o-ppa could mean?  I would 
expect something like 'masked', or 'colored', or 'surrounded'.

Best,
Rory



> Rory,
>
> I very much doubt it's related, but there is a Kaw personal name 
> is^toppasabe, a male name of the Coon Clan (or ibac^he nikkas^iNga, 
> 'lights the pipes people'), which Dorsey translates as "Black Stripe 
> over the Eyes (refers to the hair on the forehead of a raccoon)." I 
> might be wrong, but I assume that it's probably is^ta (eye) o- + ppa 
> (on the nose/forehead?) sabe (black).  Nevertheless, I'm often 
> reminded of how the language of Siouan names doesn't always seem to 
> line up 1:1 with the language of everyday communication (especially 
> with respect to stress placement, word choice for items, etc.). So, I 
> suppose it's possible that is^toppa could come to be seen as a single 
> lexical unit modified by sabe, although there's no evidence that this 
> occurred in Kaw. However, if the Omahas have a cognate name, and if a 
> similar lexical process occurred, it is at least imaginable that 
> is^tuppa could have been inducted into the lexicon at least for some 
> speakers. I don't think that's what's happening here necessarily, but 
> I guess it's a possibility.
>
> -Justin

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