ox THE LANGUAGE OF THE DAKOTA OR SIOUX INDIANS. 445 



iii [be form of walcaiilca,^'^ an old woman. Alcai) reappears also under the 

 forms {^Y)al•an aud ivai^lcan, meaning likewise above, ?/p, hifjh, superior, 

 and being' nndoubtedly closely connected with the form {ic)aJi«i], since n 

 aud 1} are interchangeable terms, (as shown in the above laiha's and 

 l-(iJiai)); aud since certain derivates, moreover, are seen to conarm 

 their intimate relationship, such as walrajii'iidapi, pride, haiifjhtincss, 

 ■where irali(U) evidently refers to real or fancied supcrioritjj, similarly 

 to the Latiu su2)crlms, the French altier, &c. Perhaps icalapa also 

 comes under this head, its meaning being to excel, to 6«>'piiss, to be 

 SKperior to, or to be oZ^ore; ^ra/.Y'j^tt standing, according to all appear- 

 ance, for ica1car)lic(])a, the hitt«r part of which would be the \erb Icapa, 

 tojyot^s hij, fo go beyond. Thus the primary and fundamental meaning of 

 icalen] (=«7i'ai), aham, alian) would be ichat is superior or above, a su2)e- 

 rior something or being ; hence it means a sjnrif, a ghost, and, as an ad- 

 jective, spiritual, supernatural, divine. It gives rise to the following 

 expressions: mini-icalMi), w^hich signifies alcohol, brandy; as it were, 

 spirit-U'atcr, or spirituous liquor ;^^ icalcax) tanlca, the Great iSpirit, inean- 

 ing God; n-al'ai) si6a, evil spirit, meaning demon, devil ; ivowapi icahai], 

 literally spi)'it booh, or spiritual, divine booh, tiie Dakota name for the 

 Bible; iipi-wahai], which means a chapel or church, literally .'pirit house, 

 sacred house ; ivi6ake-u-ahai), a clergyman, prieU, literally a spiritual man ; 

 «S:c. Thus, also, the lightning is called a'alai)hdi, from icahai) (spirit) 

 aud /;(?/, (to coine,) meaning, as it were, the coming down or arrival of a 

 spirit. xVlso, the famous dance of the Sioux Indians, which is described 

 as the Medicine-dance, viz: n-aha\) icacipi, simply means spirit-dance or 

 sacred dance, and, as Eev. S. IL Eiggs expressly informs us in his Dic- 

 tionary, is thus called especially from the fact that the high i)riests of 

 the ceremonies spend the night previous iu singularmagic practices, aud 

 are holding communion tcith the spirit icorld. Then, again, we have the 

 woEd wahai) in compound verbs, such as iLmlmx] ha go, which means liter- 

 all}' to mahe u-ahai), as it were, to attend the acts of tcorship or divine ser- 

 vice; and u'aliai)e6o:)g means to perform supernatural acts, to do trichs of 

 jugglery, of magic. A great error has been committed by travelers gen- 

 erally, who, resorting, perhaps for information, to the stolid half-breed 

 Sioux Indians, who are often still more ignorant, if possible, of English 

 than the travelers are of the Dakota tongue, have ideutitied the idea 

 expressed by the word wahai) aud everything therewith connected with 

 that of the healing art, or medicine. To be sure, healing a disease, restoring 

 a sufferer from sickness ti) health, is in the opinion of the wild Indian 

 always and i)reemiuently a su]>ernatural, wonderful act, in which beings 

 of a higher order directly participiitc, aud which is generally brought 

 about by means of magical performances, conjuring, necromancy, and 

 sorcery, rather than by the administration of remedies or other medi- 

 cal appliances. There is no such thing as a ^'■medicineman"' among 

 these Indians, and they have not even a word for it; for ivicaste-wahai), 

 which has been erroneously taken for such, simply means a supernatural 



