152 CALENDAR HISTORY OF THE KIOWA [eth.ann.17 



render comparisou difficult is the fact tLat the Kiowa have the custom 

 of dropping from the language any word which suggests the name of 

 a person recently deceased, and substituting for the tabooed word 

 another which will convey the same idea. The old word may be 

 restored after a term of years, but it frequently happens that the new 

 one keeps its place and the original word is entirely forgotten. The 

 change is a new combination of existing roots, or a new use of an exist- 

 ing word, rather than the deliberate invention of a new word, although 

 in some instances words seem to be borrowed for this purpose from 

 existing languages. The same custom exists to a limited degree among 

 the Comanche, who may have adopted it in conse(juence of tlieir asso- 

 ciation with the Kiowa, and perhajjs among other tribes. With the 

 Kiowa it is carried to such an extent that old men sometimes remem- 

 ber as many as three names which have been used in chronologic suc- 

 cession for the same object. Further linguistic investigation may 

 result in establishing their affinity with the Athaiiascau, northern 

 Shoshouean, or Salishan tribes. 



TRIBAL NAISIES 



Kiowa, the name by which the tribe is commonly known to the whites, 

 is from the softened Comanche form of the name by which they call 

 themselves, Ga'igwu' (see the glossary). It is claimed by one or two 

 old men that Ga'igwu' was not originally their ])roper name, but a 

 foreign name adopted by the tribe, and untranslatable in their own 

 language. However that may be, it is now, in its root form, Odi, 

 synonymous with Kiowa, whether applied to the individual, language, 

 territory, or utensils of the tribe. It is also the name of one of their 

 recognized tribal divisions. Ancient names used to designate them- 

 selves are Kwu'du' and afterward TcjxhV, both names signifying 

 "coming out," perhaps in allusion to their mystic origin. These two 

 names are known now only to their oldest men. They sometimes refer 

 to themselves as Kompahianta, or people of the "large tipi tlaps," 

 although, so far as observation goes, their tipis are not peculiar iu this 

 respect. Their name for Indians in general is GMguddaltdgd, "people 

 of the red flesh." Among other tribes they are called by various names, 

 the best known being the Dakota or Cheyenne form Witajmhatu, of 

 doubtful translation. The tribal sign, a quick motion of the hand past 

 the right cheek, they explain as referring to a former custom of cutting 

 the hair on that side on a level with the ear. 



GENESIS AND BIIGRATION 



According to Kiowa mythology, which has close jiarallels among 

 other tribes, their tirst ancestors emerged from a hollow cottonwood log 

 at the bidding of a supernatural progenitor. The.v came out one at a 



