Washk=?UTF-8?Q?=C4=85_?=in Otoe-Missouria

[Mcbride, Justin]

Just means 'do one's best' in Dhegiha, a far as I've ever seen. It's very
common in Osage in particular; it used to be written on the back of all the
Language Dept. t-shirts.


On Wed, Aug 6, 2014 at 9:34 AM, Campbell, Sky <sky at omtribe.org> wrote:

> A few weeks ago there was a discussion about the Ioway name "Washką Manyi"
> and the given translations such as Fast Dancer and Great Walker from
> historical documents.  I also mentioned a Ponca friend of mine with the
> name Washką Mathi which he translated as Stands Strong.  So I've been
> really interested in the term "washką" and if there was any Otoe
> equivalent.  The closest lead I found was Dorsey giving the Jiwere
> equivalent of washką as brixe in his Omaha/Ponca slips.
>
>
>
> But poking through Dorsey's material a while ago I found this term:
>
>
>
> nan-wañ-́e i-ra-́krin-wa-́shkan - to do his best to dodge or evade the
> blow, weapon, or pursuer
>
>
>
> Then I was talking with my assistant today who is pretty knowledgeable in
> Osage and he mentioned in passing that Osages use "washką" to refer to
> doing their best.  So I looked in Dorsey's material again and found this by
> itself:
>
>
>
> nan-wañ-́e - to dodge a blow or weapon; to evade the enemy, or pursuer
>
>
>
> So that leaves us with  i-ra-́krin-wa-́shkan which Dorsey also has a
> separate slip for.  Unfortunately he doesn't translate it here but he does
> give this phrase:
>
>
>
> irákrinwashkanˊwi hó
>
>
>
> Based on what I've seen so far, it looks to be a command to "do your
> best".  But what is really interesting is Dorsey gives this afterward:
>
>
>
> (eq. to Dh. washkan i-gă)
>
>
>
> So now we have a direct comparison of the Otoe "iragrį washką" and Dhegiha
> "washką".  Has anyone else seen something like this floating around their
> respective languages?  I'm curious what the "iragrį" is doing here and why
> it is omitted for its Dhegiha equivalent.  And now because of the idea of
> "best" it has me wondering if this term is related to "wexa" (best).
>
>
>
> Anyone have any thoughts?  If this term does in fact refer to doing your
> best, then the name "Washką Manyi" could perhaps roughly translate to "He
> Always Does His Best."
>
>
>
> *Sky Campbell*
>
> Language Director
>
> Otoe-Missouria Tribe
>
> (580) 723-4466, ext. 111
>
> sky at omtribe.org
>
>
>
>   ­­
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