REPOST: Re: Pronunciation of Siouxsie Sioux

F.Baube[tm] (flb@flb.optiplan.fi)
Wed, 1 Jun 94 23:09:19 EET

Surely sendmail reeled when thusly spake Alan Marr:
> Date: Tue, 31 May 1994 18:27:27 +0800
> From: Alan.Marr@eng.sun.com (Alan Marr)
> Subject: Re: Pronunciation of Siouxsie Sioux
>
> Anglo-American centrisim? If we are talking about language homelands,
> then I would like to consult a Sioux (Native American tribe member).
> The name as spelled is probably a French transliteration of the name
> the Sioux called themselves. I assume it was French explorers working
> out of the Louisiana Purchase (before it was purchased), or
> French-Canadian voyageurs who met them and gave us the spelling. The
> Sioux were natives of the prairies, if I'm not mistaken. This makes an
> interesting juxtaposition given the Scottish/Gaelic origin of
> "banshee".

reposting ..

>From flb Sat Mar 5 19:43:59 1994
Subject: S&B: Heritage Renounced ?
Date: Sat, 5 Mar 94 19:43:59 EET

[..]

3) This week the Guardian's crossword defined "banshee"
as "wailing spirit"; sounds about right.

[..]

The Guardian (UK), Wed 23 Feb:

TRIBES CAMPAIGN TO DROP NAME SIOUX

Martin Walker in Washington

The word Sioux, one of the proudest names in United
States history, may be consigned to the history books
after campaigns by the Lakota, Dakota, Nakota and
Wahpeton tribes to drop the appellation, which they
object means "snake" or "little adder".

"The name can also mean `cut-throat', and metaphor-
ically means `enemy'. It is the French rendition of
the Iroquois name for us," Victor Douville, chairman
of the Lakota studies department at Sinte Glaska
university in South Dakota, says. "We accepted it
for the sake of convenience until our people began
to realise what the name meant."

The clans have made a formal renunciation of the
name Sioux an issue in this year's tribal elections,
reflecting the renewed pride and sense of identity
that followed the Oscar-winning film about the Lakota
tribes, Dances with Wolves.

Sioux was the generic term used by successive groups
-- French, British, and American -- to describe the
alliances forged among groups of plains Indians in
response to the threat of white incursions.

The Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota, and the other smaller
clans, each speak a different dialect. They hope that
by redefining themselves as separate nations, they can
better distribute the new wealth of the Indian reserva-
tions -- the fruit of the proliferation of casinos since
the courts rules that lands deeded to the tribes by treaty
were exempt from state bans on gambling.

The outcome of the elctions is uncertain. The Navajo
Indians of the southwest defeated a similar proposal
last year to rename themselves the Dinee, which means
"the people", rather than Navajo, which means "thieves"
or "raiders".

[the article does not note any
comment from this group's totem]

-- 
* Fred Baube(tm)  *  Suomi == Euro-Mini-Nippon
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