GLOSSARY 
It is important to use native terms in discussing the culture of an 
Indian pueblo. As we have seen in the preceding chapter, Mrs. 
Stevenson’s failure to do this has made it impossible for us to identify 
the officers of Siain her day. But the use of many native terms places 
a heavy burden upon the reader, and it would be wasteful of labor and 
space to define a term each time it is used. I have therefore followed 
here the practice, begun in ‘“The Pueblo of Santo Domingo” and 
continued in “The Pueblo of Santa Ana,” of including a glossary of 
terms. This will serve a threefold purpose. First, it will make it 
easy for the reader to ascertain the meanings of native terms used in 
the text. Second, it will provide phonetic spelling of terms once and 
for all, thus saving much expense in typesetting. Most readers will 
not care how the Indians pronounce the native terms used; whether 
an 7 is to be pronounced as in “fine” or as in ‘fit’? or whether there is 
a glottal stop at this point or that will be matters of complete indif- 
ference to most readers, and there is no sense in having the typesetter 
struggle with diacritical marks, Greek letters, and symbols invented 
for the occasion every time a native term appears. And third, it will 
direct attention to some interesting and significant concepts in Sia 
and Keresan culture. One interesting feature of Keresan vocabulary 
is the use of ceremonial terms, as distinguished from those of ordinary 
discourse. For example, the ordinary word for food is ope-wi, but in 
ceremonial contexts one would say Béwits*. Earlier ethnographers 
used to call these ceremonial terms ‘‘archaic.”” They may indeed be 
archaic—although this has not been demonstrated—but their signifi- 
cance lies in the fact that they are used only in ceremonial contexts 
(White, 1944 b). 
Another feature of ceremonial usage is the substitution of some 
words for others. When skinning and cutting up a bear, for example, 
one refers to the hide as dickama (cornhusk); to the meat as kinati 
(fresh ear of corn); to feces as cebota (corn smut), etc.; and the bear 
himself is addressed as Basa (grandfather) (see p.180). The crow 
(Corvus brachyrhyncos) is called stcira in ordinary discourse, but in 
ceremonial contexts it is called Makaiye (no English equivalent) 
hatctse (man). 
I have not included all native terms used in the text by any means; 
this, too, would be wasteful, for many of them occur only once or 
twice. But I have tried to include those used most frequently. 
11 
