A Study of Siouan Cults: Eleventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1889-1890, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1861, pages 351-544Dorsey, James Owen
Religion
A Study of Siouan Cults: Eleventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1889-1890, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1861, pages 351-544
Dorsey, James Owen
Siouan Indians -- Religion
In the Winnebago, three names for superhuman beings have been found.
One is Waʞuⁿse or Waguⁿze, which can not be translated; another is
Maⁿ‘uⁿ-na, Earth-maker, the third being Qo-piⁿ-ne qe-te-ră, Great
Mysterious One. Qopiⁿne seems related to waqopini (with which compare
the ┴ɔiwere, wahupriⁿ), a term used to distinguish people of other
races from Indians, just as in Dakota wacitcuⁿ (in Riggs’s alphabet,
waśićuŋ), now used for “white man,” “black man,” etc., retains in the
Teton dialect its ancient meaning of superhuman being or guardian
spirit. Wakawaⁿx, in Winnebago, denotes a witch or wizard. Wakaⁿ-na
is a serpent, and wakaⁿ ikikaratca-da, the Serpent gens; Wakaⁿtca, or
Wakaⁿtca-ra, thunder, the Thunder-Being; Wakaⁿtcañka-ra, a shaman or
mysterious man.
OTHER OMAHA AND PONKA TERMS.
§ 8. Other terms are given as being pertinent to the subject. They
occur in the language of the Omaha and Ponka. Qube, mysterious as a
person or animal (all animals were persons in ancient times); but a
mysterious inanimate object is spoken of as being “waqube.” Uqube
means the mysteriousness of a human being or animal. Uqubeaʇaȼicaⁿ,
pertaining to such mysteriousness. Wakandaʇaȼicaⁿ, pertaining or
referring to Wakanda. Nikie is a term that refers to a mythical
ancestor, to some part of his body, to some of his acts, or to some
ancient rite ascribed to him. A “nikie name” is a personal name of
such a character. Iȼa‘eȼĕ, literally, “to pity him on account of it,
granting him certain power.” Its primary reference is to the mysterious
animal, but it is transferred to the person having the vision, hence,
it means “to receive mysterious things from an animal, as in a vision
after fasting; to see as in a vision, face to face (not in a dream);
to see when awake, and in a mysterious manner having a conversation
with the animal about mysterious things.”
§ 9. The names for grandfather, grandmother, and old man are terms of
veneration, superhuman beings having these names applied to them in
invocations. (See §§ 15, 99.)
SIGNIFICANCE OF PERSONAL NAMES AND KINSHIP TERMS.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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