OMAHA SOCIOLOGY, 



By J. Owen Dorsey. 



CHAPTER I. 

 INTRODUCTION. 



§ 1. The Ornaba Indians belong to tbe $egiha group of the Siouan 

 family. The (fegiba group may be divided into the Omaha-^egiha and 

 the Kwapa-$egiha. In the former are four tribes, speaking three dia- 

 lects, while the latter consists of one tribe, the Kwapas. The dialects 

 are as follows: Panka, spoken by the Ponkas and Omahas; Waoaoe, 

 the Osage dialect ; ;g;a D ze, that of the Kansas or Kaws, closely related 

 to the Waoaoe; and Ugaqpa, or Kwapa. 



§ 2. <£egiha means, "Belonging to the people of this hind," and answers 

 to the Oto " xoiwere," and the Iowa " xoe^iwere." Mr. Joseph La 

 Fleche, who was formerly a head chief of the Omahas, also said that 

 (pegiha was about equivalent to " Dakota." When an Omaha was chal- 

 lenged in the dark, when on his own land, he generally replied, " I am 

 a $egiha." So did a Ponka reply, under similar circumstances, when 

 on his own land. But when challenged in the dark, when away from 

 home, he was obliged to give the name of his tribe, saying, " I am an 

 Omaha," or, " I am a Ponka," as the case might be. 



§ 3. The real name of the Omahas is " TJina n ha\" It is explained by 

 a tradition obtained from a few members of the tribe. When the ances- 

 tors of the Omahas, Ponkas, Osages, and several other cognate tribes 

 traveled down the Ohio to its mouth, they separated on reaching the 

 Mississippi. Some went up the river, hence the name Uma n ha n , from 

 i]ima n ha u , " to go against the wind or stream." The rest went down 

 the river, hence the name Ugaqpa or Kwapa, from ugaqpa or ugaha, " to 

 float down the stream." 



EARLY MIGRATIONS OF THE (jSEGIHA TRIBES 



The tribes that went up the Mississippi were the Omahas, Ponkas, 

 Osages, and Kansas. Some of the Omahas remember a tradition that 

 their ancestors once dwelt at the place where Saint Louis now stands; 

 and the Osages and Kansas say that they were all one people, inhabit- 

 ing an extensive peninsula, on the Missouri River. 



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