The Cooperstown courier. (Cooperstown, Griggs Co., N.D.) 1902-1913, 1903-07-16
roMAaAwK TRULY BURIED.
Dropped the Word from Their
Language.


Dropped the Word from Theis
Language.
Despite the adoption by the Indians
Of the northwest of the ways of the
white men in the matter of vacations
the English language is, perhaps. far
Their from being generally used BY
them than ever before,
The statement is made by mission
aries and government agents that the
Indian languages are more generally
spoken and better developed to-day
than they were so years ago. This is
particularly true of the Sioux, which.
in two dialects, the Teton and the
Yankton, has been the means of COM
munication for ,unnumbered years
among the Indians of the great plains
country. on both sides of the Missouri
river.
The law of evolution works in the
Indian language just as it does in the
English. The older Indians employ
words and phrases that the later gen.
erations do not use and do not seem
to understand, says the New York Sun.
The change has come about largely
through the influence of the mission.
aries, who have taken the trouble to
learn the tongue, and have then en-
ployed their linguistic skill in system.
atizing it. Grammar, HAD sery little
PLACE in the old language Of the Sioux
bur the missionary has brought order
to this part of it. ~
One noticeable change in the char.
acter of the Indian language Of to-day
is its comparative purity. In the old
days, when the tribes roamed at will
each enriched the language of the 9th.
ers by picturesque phrases or words,
either through the exchange Of greet.
ings or the words wrung from theSlips
of captive braves. ~me
T. The Indian exhibits the same quick
ness in grasping'a new idiom or strilz.
ing phrase as the white man, although
restricted necessarily to Indian
sources. Its a remarkable fact that
the, slang Of the English tongue finds
little favor with the reds, although
they are eager to seize upon anything
good in any other Indian tongue.
Their confinement to the bounds of the
reservations has had the effect Of puri-
flying their Language m that there is
little Of the old mixture of other.tribes
to be found. '-
All Indian language is spoken in gut
tural, deep, throaty tones, with small
syllables AND much use of vowels.
Words of the Sioux sometimes mean
.who ole phrases Of English. Take, for
instance, the old word "a-mah- pas-an-:
ta-gil," which expresses a long SEN
,tenoe in English. l.irf.
sisIt means that the Indian has seen
something silhouetted against the sky,
after dusk has set in, and that he has
watched it until he could distinguish
the object by the red light of the after
glow. Tenderfeet scarcely ever OBJ
serve this peculiar phenomenon of the
plains, but old plaihsmen have noticed
that always in the evening when dark
ness is gathering over the land there
is, a! faint temperance. of glowing red
light as if the sun were about to rise
again. 49,. ..g.-.,. L. .,.a Z.
| The Indians who are great at MOTTO
ing things understood this phenom-
enon and watched for it. When writ
temshe word would have "wa-yan-ka-
pi'sadded if the object had been seen
by more than one, The affix "pi' al.
:ssay's signifies the plural number.
+ The old Indian words wigwam and
l'tamahawk have no longer place in
tire language Of the reds. These and
many others are practically extinct.
They were, strictly speaking, words of
eastern tribes, and in some cases they
were the inventions of trappers and
f:plainsmen. The Sioux word for wig
warn is tepee, which has more essen
tally Indian sound. -
7. By prefxing and affixing, IN Indian
weird may *be heightened out into
| meanings that would require whole
paragraph of English to fully trans
late. The language is very comprehen-
I sivee; and. in its greater purityiis more.
poetical than formerly, shorn, as 1t
flow u.s.: of what correspondents Indian
Slang.
7: II is losing little in the way Of be-
| mig fgurative. this being the result of
scientific application and systematiza-
f;tioh. The words and phrases still deal
| mainly with the ordinary things of
| the Indians simple life, and when the
realm of metaphysics is entered the
red man is at a loss for words, save as
he can illustrateNhis meaning by the
use of common words of double signi-
| fcation. l.
.... Egyptian God Identified.
The Egyptians had crowded pam
| theon, as is we'll known. In it many
animals had place, and, likewise,
many Of it's gods in human shape we've
provided with animal heads: Hor,ls
had the head Of a hawk; Sebak that ST
a crocodile, Bast that, Of cat, and 20
forth. Among them all was one god
who has been a thorn in the side of
archa eologists. This. was Set, the