MALLERY ON THE DAKOTA CALENDAR. 25 



opinion that the name of this Teton band meant "Always Moving ", those 

 of no fixed habitations, the Nomads, particularly and especially, of the 

 Nation. In analyzing the name, the vowel " o" is the prefix which con- 

 verts Dakota verbs into nouns ; " hda " in the Santee or Eastern Sioux 

 dialect means " to go home", and this in the Yankton dialect changes to 

 " kda ", while in the Teton it becomes " gla", for in this last Sioux dia- 

 lect " g " hard is used for " h " of the Santee and the " k " of the Yank- 

 ton, and rejecting " d " altogether they use " 1 " in its place. The dupli- 

 cation of Ma or Ma or ^r^a implies " more homes than one", and therefore 

 conveys the idea of unsettled and wandering. Or it may be that the word 

 7idah-7idah (the italic 1i representing a guttural), meaning a rattle, or some 

 thing that is "loose", "not secure", " unsteady", better represents the 

 original idea under which their name was first bestowed. O-giah-glah 

 is perhaps an orthography that conveys more exactly the Indian sound 

 of the name to English-educated people. 

 Very respectfully^, 



THOMAS FOSTEE. , 

 Col. Garrick Mallery, U. S. A. 



Hartjord, January 19, 1877. 



Dear Sir ; * * * The origin of these names is often very obscure 

 and the meaning is sometimes lost, or in doubt, to those who bear the 

 name. It is easy to guess at the meaning, but the guess is as likely to 

 be wrong as right, even when the etymology seems to be i3lain. 



I have little doubt that the first half of " Hunkpapa" is the represen- 

 tation of HunM, " parent or ancestor", as Riggs translates it, with the 

 explanation that it is applied to " one who has raised himself in the esti- 

 mation of the people so as to be considered as a kind of benefactor or 

 IDarent " ; hence " the sim " as a parent or benefactor. This seems to be, 

 though Mr. Eiggs does not note the fact, the same term which is used 

 in the name of the Water-god, " Unktehi", and of the spider (mythic), 

 " Unktomi". The thumb is nape hunM, i. e., theelder finger or parent 

 finger. The same root is found in hunku, mother, tuiikan, father-in-law, 

 and, I think, in mwcj, grandmother. As it characterizes ancestry in the 



maternal line, it probably indicates totemic (or clan) relationship. * 



* * * 



Yours, truly, 



J. H. TEUMBULL. 



Col. Garrick Mallery. 



