XXX DAKOTA GRAMMAR, TEXTS, AND ETHNOGRAPHY, 
THE TERMS FOR “WHITE MAN” IN SIOUAN LANGUAGES. 
On p. 174 Dr. Riges, in speaking of Hennepin’s narrative, says: “The 
principal chief at that time of this part of the tribe, is called by Hennepin 
‘Washechoonde. If he is correct, their name for Frenchmen was in use, 
among the Dakota, before they had intercourse with them, and was probably 
a name learned from some Indians farther east.” The author’s supposition 
as to the eastern origin of wasiéwy as an appellation for white men might 
stand if there were no explanation to be found in the Dakota and cognate 
languages. Hennepin himself is a witness to the fact that the Dakota 
Indians of his day called spirits wasiéuy (as Dr. Riggs states on p. 175). 
And this agrees with what I have found in the Teton myths and stories of 
the Bushotter collection, where wasiéwy is given as meaning guardian 
spirit. Dr. Riggs himself, in his Dakota-English dictionary, gives wasiéuy 
as ‘nearly synonymous with wakay” in the opinion of some persons. He 
appends the following Teton meanings: “A familiar spirit; some mysterious 
forces or beings which are supposed to communicate with men; mitawasiéuy 
he omakiyaka, my familiar spirit told me that.” This phrase he gives as 
referring to the Takuskanskay, the Something-that-moves or the Wind 
powers. The Mandan use waci and the Hidatsa maci for white man. 
Though the Hidatsa word was originally applied only to the French and 
Canadians, who are now sometimes designated as masikat’i (maci-kttei, in 
the Bureau alphabet), the true whites. The iwere tribes (lowa, Oto, 
and Missouri) call a Frenchman mag okenyi, in which compound mag is 
equivalent to maci of the Hidatsa, waci of the Mandan, and wasiéuy of the 
Dakota. The Ponka and Omaha call a white man waqé@, one who excels 
or goes beyond (the rest), and a Frenchman waqé ukeg¢i", a common white 
man. The Winnebago name for Frenchman is waqopinina, which may be 
compared with the word for mysterious. 
NOTES ON THE DAKOTA MYTHS. 
On p. 84, lines 8 to 18, there is an account of the wonderful result 
produced by tossing the Star-born up through the smoke hole. In the 
siloxi myth of the Hummingbird there is an account of a girl, a boy, and 
a dog that were eared for by the Ancient of Crows. One day, in the 
absence of the fostermother, the girl tossed four grains of corn up through 
the smoke hole, and when they came down they became many stalks filled 
with ears of excellent corn. The girl next threw the tent itself up into the 
air, causing it to come dowr a beautiful lodge. When she threw her little 
