KIOWA CHRONOLOGY 



TERMS EMPLOYED 



Now — inhogo {inhoti=th\a) . 



Then (past) — ohijo (same as there). 



Second, minute, bour — unknown. 



Day (from sunrise to sunset) — liiida, abbreviated kiii. 



A day (of twenty-four hours, i. e., one day and onenight) — piigo Hd' (^"one day"). 



Dawn — kidt'd' (literally, " first light," I'd; fa seems to be connected with t'aiii, white; 



gildpd-iiigya). 

 Sunrise — pai-biida, literally, " the sun has come up." 

 Morning — liddd', literally, full day; of. Day and Dawn; gyupd-ingija ; very early in 



the morning — ginaga (of. Night); late morning, shortly before noon — kydiiin 



kidsd. 

 This morning — iuhoti gyapd-iiigija. 

 Koon — kidsd. 



Afternoon (early, until about 3 oclock) — dekidsa. 

 Afternoon (late) — di'hin. 

 Evening — ddm-kdrikgu (literally, first darkness) ; dek6md6le {-gya, from an archaic root 



referring to slight darkness). 

 Night — ginde; gii'idgya; one ui'^ht, pdgo gi. 



Midnight — (jin-kopd-ingya; after midnight — giiiu-Ugya {togya, after or past). 

 Tonight — iiihoti gi. 

 Today — inhoti kid. 

 Yesterday — kidde'dal. 

 Tomorrow — kydhinagd. 

 Day after tomorrow — aiigddal kidgyd kydhin (literally, a day — kidgyd; beyond or 



more — angddal: tomorrow — kyiihin) ; abbreviated, aiigddal kydhin. 

 Day l)efore yesterday — topde kiddMal, literally, before yesterday; day next before, 



understood. 

 Journey — estimated by "darks," koH, i. e., nights, instead of by "sleeps." Thus, if 



one asks how far away is a certain distant place, he is told that it is pd'go kofi, yia 



kon, one dark, two darks, etc, i. e., that to reach it he must be one night, two 

 ights, etc, on the road. They understand now how to measure short distances 



liy the mile, on, literally, "a measure." 

 Week — The Kiowa did not originally group the days into weeks, but have now 



learned to make such a period, counting by Sundays or by the l)iweekly ration 



issue. Thus Sunday is Dakiddu, literally, "medicine day," i. e., "sacred day." 



One week is pd'go iHikiddu: two weeks, yia Dukiddd, etc. Next week — ki-gia 



Dakidda, literally, after Sunday; also, koiitd'kia, literally, middle of (issue) 



nights. 

 One issue — pd'go konakdn, literally, one end or series (akdn) of darks or nights. 



The regular ration issue is made every two weeks, on Friday, and as this is the 



great gathering time of the Indians, when they meet their friends and talk over 



matters of mutual interest, it has become a red-letter day and a starting point, 



like our Sunday. 

 Month or moon — ji'a. The same word means river or stream, while pit, without the 



asjiirate, signifies a bufl'alo bull. 



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