Terms for 'black' in MVS

[Rory Larson]

Thanks, Jimm.  That’s pretty much what I was thinking.  I believe the original Siouan sound here was /š/, and some speakers, especially the Otoe-Missouria, have shifted it forward to something more like /s/.  At the same time, the original Siouan /s/ has also shifted forward in IOM to something like /þ/, “thorn”, or what we write “th”.  So Omaha “s” would correspond to IOM “th”, and IOM “s” or “sh” would correspond to Omaha “sh”.

According to the CSD, we seem to have about four or five different words for ‘black’ in Siouan, which are all related to each other by a couple of sound alternations.  First, we have alternation in the main vowel between /e/ and /a/, which gives us two alternative forms of ‘black’:

          *sepe
          *sape

Within MVS, Hochank and IOM chose *sepe as their basic word for ‘black’, while Dakotan and Dhegiha chose *sape.  However, Dhegiha at least preserved *sepe as an alternate ‘black’ term in rare cases.  Bob Rankin found a séwe term for ‘black’ in Quapaw, and in Omaha the name of one of our speakers is Mi-sebe, meaning “Dark of the Moon”.  She and her sister made it very clear to us that the sebe part of this is not the ‘black’ word, sábe.  They say that sébe is its own word meaning “shadowy”, and in this case refers to the part of the moon that is dark when the moon is not full.  I don’t know that I’ve ever run into the term outside of this case in Omaha, so perhaps it is preserved there mainly because it appears in a name.

Second, these two ‘black’ words were both given alternates via Siouan fricative ablaut.  The initial /s/ could be changed to /š/ to give the idea of an “off-black”, or “dark”:

          *sepe          =>               *šepe
          *sape          =>               *šape

In Dhegiha, the *šape term means ‘dark (colored)’, and in Dakotan it means ‘dirty’, both in contrast to *sape, meaning ‘black’.  In IOM and Hochank, the *šepe term means ‘dark’, ‘suntanned’ or ‘brown’ in contrast to *sepe, ‘black’.  So we get a comparative matrix that looks something like this:

                    ‘black’                  ‘off-black’
          MVS *sepe          =>     *šepe
          Ho     séep             =>     šéep (‘dark’, ‘suntanned’)
          IOM  thewe           =>     sewe or šewe (‘brown’)
          OP     sebe (‘shadowy’)
          MVS *sape          =>     *šape
          OP     sabe            =>     šabe (‘dark’)
          Da     sapA           =>     šapA (‘dirty’)

Best,
Rory


From: Siouan Linguistics [mailto:SIOUAN at listserv.unl.edu] On Behalf Of Jimm Goodtracks
Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2014 3:15 PM
To: SIOUAN at LISTSERV.UNL.EDU
Subject: Re: [Possible SPAM] Re: Old Otoe-Missouria term for "bear"

Rory:  They are both correct “séwe” or “šéwe”.  The difference is that the OM tend to pronounce a “s” while the Ioway tend to pronounce a ‘’š ~ sh’’.  The distinction is not clear cut, as there have been informants who tend to use the ‘’š ~ sh’’ at times and in certain words.  Maybe once upon a time, it was an OM vs. I difference.  So then, in the dictionary, such a word as we have here maybe be heard to be pronounced   “séwe” or “šéwe”.   Now Dorsey also uses the “s” and “sh.”  The former usually represents the “th” while the latter represents the “s” sound.

From: Rory Larson<mailto:rlarson1 at UNL.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2014 11:54 AM
To: SIOUAN at listserv.unl.edu<mailto:SIOUAN at listserv.unl.edu>
Subject: Re: [Possible SPAM] Re: Old Otoe-Missouria term for "bear"

Jimm, is that “séwe” or “šéwe”?  I looked it up in your dictionary, and found it under “šéwe”.  Or is there no difference between /s/ and /š/ in IOM?


From: Siouan Linguistics [mailto:SIOUAN at listserv.unl.edu] On Behalf Of Jimm Goodtracks
Sent: Monday, April 21, 2014 9:16 PM
To: SIOUAN at LISTSERV.UNL.EDU<mailto:SIOUAN at LISTSERV.UNL.EDU>
Subject: Re: [Possible SPAM] Re: Old Otoe-Missouria term for "bear"

I am in agreement with all said.  May I add two things. Dorsey’s “ñ” in his text is equal to the “ng” as in “sing.”  So in lieu of he Ioway “-iñe,” it would be the Otoe/Missouria “-inge.”  Also, IOM does have a cognate to Omaha “sebe” which is “séwe” (brown).  I have never known it to cover the meaning of “shawdowed,” as Rory says exists in Omaha.


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