Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2017 19:34:13 GMT -5
What follows is an attempt to be in keeping with the thesis asserted by George Sword and others of his standing that, “The young Oglála do not understand a formal talk by an old Lakȟóta because the white people have changed the Lakȟóta language, and the young people speak it as the white people have written it,” and what Raymond DeMallie clarified, “Sword felt that as the language was formerly spoken – and as it was still spoken in ceremonies and formal speeches – each syllable was a distinct unit of meaning. Sequences of syllables [...] accepted as equivalents for English words were really phrases […] But the younger Oglála had come to accept the newer view and the language had changed to the extent that younger men could no longer understand the old formal speech.”
A person identified by two syllables “SHO-TA” and whose name was translated as “Smoke” was a member of the Blackfeet band and was a signator to the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. The word “smoke” is listed in the New Lakota Dictionary (NLD) as “šóta,” with meanings for a noun “smoke” and a verb “to smoke,” but no syllable is listed in the NLD that corresponds to the first syllable “SHO” in the name “SHO-TA.” The second syllable “TA” is listed in the NLD as the suffix “-ta” meaning “to, at, in, on.” One other word is listed in the NLD beginning with the letters “šó” and that word is the stative verb “šóka” meaning “to be thick; dense; heavy,” and the suffix “-ka” is listed in the NLD with the meaning “kind of, sort, of, somewhat.” Thus, by inference, it seems reasonable to conclude that the syllable “šó” has the meaning, “thick; dense; heavy” consistent with a derivation from the word “šóka.” Thus, by extension, the word “šóta” is construed to mean the thick, dense, heavy substance that forms on the burning fire as the product of combustion; i.e., that substance we call smoke.
As time permits, further investigation will no doubt reveal the existence of other “lost syllables” that were not included in the New Lakota Dictionary. As testimony to this premise, it is helpful to remember that another signatory to the Fort Lakota Treaty of 1868, American Horse was identified by the syllables “WAH-SECHUN” and for which the syllable “SECHUN” (not in the NLD) was previously identified as “šíčʼuŋ,” construed to be a noun with the meaning of “the guardian, the familiar, the Intellect, a supernatural influence that forwarns of danger, admonishes for right against wrong; i.e., “šíčʼuŋ” being a word equivalent to the word “conscience” in the English language and consisting of the auxiliary verb “ší” meaning “to command or order someone to do something” and the definite article “čʼuŋ” meaning “the aforesaid, the past.”
A person identified by two syllables “SHO-TA” and whose name was translated as “Smoke” was a member of the Blackfeet band and was a signator to the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. The word “smoke” is listed in the New Lakota Dictionary (NLD) as “šóta,” with meanings for a noun “smoke” and a verb “to smoke,” but no syllable is listed in the NLD that corresponds to the first syllable “SHO” in the name “SHO-TA.” The second syllable “TA” is listed in the NLD as the suffix “-ta” meaning “to, at, in, on.” One other word is listed in the NLD beginning with the letters “šó” and that word is the stative verb “šóka” meaning “to be thick; dense; heavy,” and the suffix “-ka” is listed in the NLD with the meaning “kind of, sort, of, somewhat.” Thus, by inference, it seems reasonable to conclude that the syllable “šó” has the meaning, “thick; dense; heavy” consistent with a derivation from the word “šóka.” Thus, by extension, the word “šóta” is construed to mean the thick, dense, heavy substance that forms on the burning fire as the product of combustion; i.e., that substance we call smoke.
As time permits, further investigation will no doubt reveal the existence of other “lost syllables” that were not included in the New Lakota Dictionary. As testimony to this premise, it is helpful to remember that another signatory to the Fort Lakota Treaty of 1868, American Horse was identified by the syllables “WAH-SECHUN” and for which the syllable “SECHUN” (not in the NLD) was previously identified as “šíčʼuŋ,” construed to be a noun with the meaning of “the guardian, the familiar, the Intellect, a supernatural influence that forwarns of danger, admonishes for right against wrong; i.e., “šíčʼuŋ” being a word equivalent to the word “conscience” in the English language and consisting of the auxiliary verb “ší” meaning “to command or order someone to do something” and the definite article “čʼuŋ” meaning “the aforesaid, the past.”
