Post by tkavanagh on Sept 26, 2010 14:21:02 GMT -5
Just a comment:
Numunuu personal names are usually not based on their own actions, but on the deeds of their namers.
After a birth, the parents would ask a warrior to provide a name. He would consider his own past, then swear by Father Sun and Mother Earth, and give a name.
Thus the man who named Asenap, /ese/ 'grey', /nap/ 'shoe', had once, on a war party, stepped into some grey mud; he exclaimed "look at my shoes, they are grey."
If the claimed deed was wrong, the child would become ill, and the parents might search out a /puhakut/ 'possessor of medicine', to discover the cause. If it was determined that the namer was a braggart, a new namer would be found, and the child's name would be changed.
I know of only one case of an adult's name being changed: e.g. the Kwahada /mahimia paraibo/ 'war party chief' Tokomi (/tu/ 'black, /kuhma/ 'male', aka Black Horse) who was sent to Fort Marion, was later known as Tabbyko (I am not sure of the translation).
As another aside, Numunuu were not particularly squemish/sensitive/polite (in modern terms) about personal names. The name of the failed prophet of 1874, Isatai, is literally "Female Wolf's XXX." [the web site doesn't wan't me to use the word "t''wat" which is what the Numunuu use, and changed it to "thingy"]. The family name of a current member of the tribal council is Kotsochoqueta: /kotso/ 'buffalo', /quita/ 'excrement.' Another family name is Paruaquita: /parua/ 'elk', /quita/ .
Third aside:
The book, _Dances with Wolves_ was actually written about Comanches -- thus the character played by Floyd Westerman, "Ten Bears", is named after Paruasemena, the Numunuu; as my friend JoAllyn Archambault, noted, the Lakota never got above 4 bears. Thus also, the female character "Stands With a Fist" would not have been named after her own actions, but after something her namer did.
tk
Numunuu personal names are usually not based on their own actions, but on the deeds of their namers.
After a birth, the parents would ask a warrior to provide a name. He would consider his own past, then swear by Father Sun and Mother Earth, and give a name.
Thus the man who named Asenap, /ese/ 'grey', /nap/ 'shoe', had once, on a war party, stepped into some grey mud; he exclaimed "look at my shoes, they are grey."
If the claimed deed was wrong, the child would become ill, and the parents might search out a /puhakut/ 'possessor of medicine', to discover the cause. If it was determined that the namer was a braggart, a new namer would be found, and the child's name would be changed.
I know of only one case of an adult's name being changed: e.g. the Kwahada /mahimia paraibo/ 'war party chief' Tokomi (/tu/ 'black, /kuhma/ 'male', aka Black Horse) who was sent to Fort Marion, was later known as Tabbyko (I am not sure of the translation).
As another aside, Numunuu were not particularly squemish/sensitive/polite (in modern terms) about personal names. The name of the failed prophet of 1874, Isatai, is literally "Female Wolf's XXX." [the web site doesn't wan't me to use the word "t''wat" which is what the Numunuu use, and changed it to "thingy"]. The family name of a current member of the tribal council is Kotsochoqueta: /kotso/ 'buffalo', /quita/ 'excrement.' Another family name is Paruaquita: /parua/ 'elk', /quita/ .
Third aside:
The book, _Dances with Wolves_ was actually written about Comanches -- thus the character played by Floyd Westerman, "Ten Bears", is named after Paruasemena, the Numunuu; as my friend JoAllyn Archambault, noted, the Lakota never got above 4 bears. Thus also, the female character "Stands With a Fist" would not have been named after her own actions, but after something her namer did.
tk