Omaha and Lakota Words

[Rankin, Robert L]

I can't contribute much to this discussion, but there are a couple of things that can be said.

1. wiN is the first syllable of the common Siouan term for 'woman'. wiN and min ~ mi are cognates.  

2. wiN (miN ~ mi) is also the reconstructible term for 'orb' and is the basis for the terms for both 'sun' and 'moon'.  Dakotan wi is very irregular.  The word has nasalization in every other Siouan language for which nasality is phonemic.  Dakotan 'star', wichaxpe is similarly irregular; cf. Kansa mikkak?e.

3. The Kansa term is miixoge.  'Badger' is xoNga, so that is quite different.  

4. The Common Siouan 'potential, irrealis', kte, has its source in the Proto-Siouan word for 'to want'.  It retains that meaning in Biloxi, Crow and some other languages.  'Want' is grammaticalized as a future tense or potential mode marker in many languages including English, Greek and many Balkan languages, so there's nothing strange here.  

5. I have no idea whether these terms refer to femininity, the moon, etc. or whether the entire explanation might be folk etymology.  Someone more familiar with the cultures may be better at explaining these things than a hard core linguist.

Bob


________________________________________
From: owner-siouan at lists.Colorado.EDU [owner-siouan at lists.Colorado.EDU] on behalf of ROOD DAVID S [David.Rood at Colorado.EDU]
Sent: Monday, August 22, 2011 12:48 PM
To: siouan at lists.Colorado.EDU
Subject: Re: Omaha and Lakota Words

Scott, I have never thought about trying to do an etymology of winkte,
but Mark has given me some ideas.  WiN is indeed a very common morpheme
for 'woman', used as the final element in almost all women's names, for
example.  Mark's guess at xti is wrong, however -- that would be xci or
xce in Lakota.  kte is the irrealis mode marker, usually glossed future
tense in English, so the meaning could be something like 'will be a woman'
or 'might be a woman'.
        I wonder if wiN and Omaha mi are cognate, despite the difference
in meaning.  Lakota 'moon' is wi, without nasalization.

        David

David S. Rood
Dept. of Linguistics
Univ. of Colorado
295 UCB
Boulder, CO 80309-0295
USA
rood at colorado.edu

On Mon, 22 Aug 2011, Mark J Awakuni-Swetland wrote:

> Aloha Scott,
> We have generally glossed miqu'ga as:
>
> mi-moon
> qu'ga- marked
>
> Qu'ga is also the Omaha name for badger, distinguished by the clear "mark"
> on its face.
>
> So, "marked by the moon", referring to the feminine/female qualities of
> that celestial being in Omaha cosmology.
>
>
> I would hazard a stab at winxti from an Omaha perspectiv as:
>
> win-feminine
> xti-very, really
>
> Or, "very female".
>
> Mark
>
>
> Mark Awakuni-Swetland, Ph.D.
> Associate Professor of Anthropology & Ethnic Studies
> Native American Studies Program Liaison
> University of Nebraska
> Department of Anthropology
> 841 Oldfather Hall
> Lincoln, NE 68588-0368
>
> http://omahalanguage.unl.edu
> http://omahaponca.unl.edu
> Phone 402-472-3455
> FAX: 402-472-9642
>
>
>
> Scott Collins <saponi360 at yahoo.com>
> Sent by: owner-siouan at lists.Colorado.EDU
> 08/21/11 06:34 PM
> Please respond to
> siouan at lists.Colorado.EDU
>
>
> To
> siouan at lists.Colorado.EDU
> cc
>
> Subject
> Omaha and Lakota Words
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> I was wondering if anyone may have a breakdown of the word mexoga in Omaha
> and the word winkte in Lakota; i.e such as root words and literal
> meanings?
>
> Scott P. Collins
>
>