hunka/honga, etc.

[Rankin, Robert L.]

Mark et al.

There is no really straightforward answer to the question.  The term occurs in all Mississippi Valley Siouan languages and Mandan with the meanings indicated below.  It does not occur in Missouri River Siouan or Ohio Valley Siouan as far as we have been able to determine.  This means that the term is probably a good 2000 years old at least within Siouan.  I don't know what your contact's source is, but it is highly unlikely that anyone would "remember" where it comes from or whether it came from outside Siouan.  It might, of course, in which case the place to look for similar terms would be Algonquian.  Other possibilities include Caddoan, but no one has suggested a source.  Below is the CSD entry.  We debated the meaning/source and came up with basically nothing.


PSI[ *hų́•ka

MA[ hų́ka ‘parent’ H-83



PMV[ *hų́•ka

PDA[ *hųká

LA[ hųká ‘ancestor, chief, elder, relative’ C

DA[ †hųká “huŋká” ‘parent, ancestor’ R-157b

ST[ hųgá ‘chief’ PAS


PWC[*hų́•ke

CH[ hų́•ge ‘chief’ RR

WI[ hų́ųk KM-1617 ‘chief’



PDH[ *hą́ka RR

OP[ nadáhąga ‘chief’ RR, ‘war leader’ SW-34

KS[ hą́ga ‘gens name’; dodą́hąga ‘war leader’ RR

OS[ †hǫ́ka “hoⁿ´ga” ‘eagle, sacred one, moiety name’ LF-65b

QU[ totą́hąka ‘war captain’ JOD



COM[ Length and accentual pattern suggest there may have been an old initial

syllable, probably the possessive {*i-}.  The proto-DH form may have had

{ǫ́}, but most of the evidence comes from unstressed forms where |ǫ| and

|ą| have fallen together more or less completely. La Flesche’s OS does not

distinguish the two even in accented position.  Jimm Good Tracks 92:28 reports that this

term has the broader meaning ‘blessed one (who has been prayed/sung over)’.

This may in fact be closer to the original meaning, since it encompasses

virtually all of the derived meanings.  I invite Jimm to comment further.

Bob
________________________________
> A graduate student here at UNL forwarded this inquiry.
Any suggestions, please?  Thank you,
Mark Awakuni-Swetland

> Do you know where the term Hunka originated?  One of my sources talked about how it is not a Siouan word and was borrowed from some other tribe/language group.  I thought perhaps you might have some info on this.