Evening star., 1932-09-05
OSAGE LANGUAGE
ARTICULATION TEST
Influx of Culture to Life of
Indians CompIicates
Expressions.

When the little Usage girl crawls out
OF bed in the morning the first thing
she does is to a-ci-ga aka in-dse-gthu-
Eha-bi a.
That is the way her mother would
tell her to wash her face.
Then she sits down to ga-con-in-xtsi
-bthe, breakfast, or literally.
'early morning meal" In the thicket
outside she hears the ga-con-in xtsi-
wa-zhi-ga a be-hu-ton, Shra bi a, or
the early mo-ning song Of the birds.
After that she may play all the
morning with her zhin-ga zhin-ga wa
thi-hi-dse, her doll or play baby"
Meanwhile her father may have gone
to the u-thi-ton-tha u-non-zhi and
gone away in his eva -zhin- -no-ge.
That is, he may have gone to his ga
rage, or wagon with house attached
to it." and departed in his automobile
or wagon that runs of its own voli-
ton" Or he may have taken the u-thi-
to-tha * on-ca-gi, the steam train. or
something that is controlled having
great speed" to town. Perhaps he left
home hurriedly, using a iu-ga-she-ge
i-ba-gu-dse, or toothpick.
Dictionary Is Prepared.
These are Just a few Of the jaw
breakers that must be mastered to
speak Usage intelligently, according to
q dictionary of the language prepared
for the Smithsonian Institution by
Francis La Flesche, himself a member
Of closely related tribe and an ethnol-
ogist of the Smithsonian staff. Much
Of the difficulty is due to the Indians
attempt to express in his own tongue
elements of culture introduced by the
white man. but the original language
was complicated enough.
Such task as learning to count, ap-
parently, is hard job for the Usage
child. 1t must master such expressions
as a-gthing-the bthon tse win -thin-ge,
the Usage expression for 10, which
means literally 40 less of / plus TO-"
When the child comes to % it must
master such an expression as gthe-
bytho thin-ba ki-di thin-ba, literally
. times 10 plus 2. Expressions involv-
ing numerical terms often become very
1nvolved-such as the term for Lent,
gthe-bthon do-ba-zho, which means
literally "ten-fours-sleep" or forty
nights"
Quarter Is "Raccoon Money"
The village drunkard is a ha-ci-ni
Ei-tha-gthi, or "one fond of wine" A
curious bit of word formation is u-ga
hon-ba nui-ki-gtha Gin, the Usage ex-
preston for mirror. 1t means literally
"themselves-p eeped-in-water-g glass" The
tribe knew nothing of a mirror until
the white man came, but had looked
Into the water for their own reflection.
They coined word for glass" and
combined it with the term for obtaining
ones own image in the water. The
term for 25 cents is mi-ka- ka-ha-i-tha-wa,
literally "raccoon money" When the
fur traders first came among the tribe
tnls was the price generally paid for a
raccoon skin. An "eavesdropper" is a
non-xthon-ha wa-non-ko. When a per-
son Is sick in the stomach he Is thon-
dse ba-shton-ga. Trousers" are u-thu-
gi-non-zhin. A f1int-lock musket was
called wa-ho-ton-the mon-ga -zhe-g ga
-gon-hterally "gun with hammer
like the hind leg of skunk" When a
youth goes courting he Is wa-k'o i-thi-
gtho-literally with women thoughts
on his mind
Much Of the Usage language is made
up Of personal names. Those of the
women, especially, were often quite
picturesque. Here are few of them
cited by Mr.. La Flesche:
BY the Wind; Hon-ba-hiu, Passing of
the Night; Mika-k'e-zhin-ga, Little Star;
M-don-a-bi, Sun That Is Looked Upon !;
Pa-xpi-con-dse, Stunted Oaks; Wa-xon-
xon, The Shining One, referring to the
shining wings of an eagle.
The President Of the United States
Is the TSi-go-a-bi wa-ton-ga, literally
"Grandfather to all" The Postmaster
General Is known as the Wa-gthe-ce u
tsi gi-wa-ton-ga, or Head of the house
OF writing" A member of Congress is q
d-ctu u-mon-thi.
The Usage vocabulary reflects the
close intimacy with nature In which the
Trainers of the language lived.
Calendar of Osages.
The Usage calendar follows:
January, hon-ba stse-dse, or "moon
OF the long days."
February. mi-u-ko-dsi, or ''the soli-
March, mi-u-ko-thi-ge, or moon of
the idle days"
April, I-wa-bi, or moon of planting. !"
May, hiu-wa-thi-xth -xtha -zhu -dsa-
ni, or when the buffalo bull regains
fat"
July, tse-ki- -.he-xa- or "the moon
when the buffalo run"
August, xtha-ci-bi, or month of vel
low flowers"
September, xtha- i-bthno-ga-ci, or
month when all yellow flowers bloom -
October, ta-h-thi-xa-bi or moon of
the deer"
November, mi-ka-ki-thi-xa-bi or
month of the raccoons."
December, wa-ca-be-we-da-th -tha-bi, or
when the black bear gives birth to
young"