The Siouan Indians | Page 2

for a people bearing a euphonious appellation of their own.
Moreover, colloquial usage was gradually influenced by the usage of
scholars, who accepted the native name for the Dakota (spelled
Dahcota by Gallatin) confederacy, as well as the tribal names adopted
by Gallatin, Prichard, and others. Thus the ill-defined term "Sioux" has
dropped out of use in the substantive form, and is retained, in the
adjective form only, to designate a great stock to which no other
collective name, either intern or alien, has ever been definitely and
justly applied.
The earlier students of the Siouan Indians recognized the plains tribes
alone as belonging to that stock, and it has only recently been shown
that certain of the native forest-dwellers long ago encountered by
English colonists on the Atlantic coast were closely akin to the plains
Indians in language, institutions, and beliefs. In 1872 Hale noted a
resemblance between the Tutelo and Dakota languages, and this

resemblance was discussed orally and in correspondence with several
students of Indian languages, but the probability of direct connection
seemed so remote that the affinity was not generally accepted. Even in
1880, after extended comparison with Dakota material (including that
collected by the newly instituted Bureau of Ethnology), this
distinguished investigator was able to detect only certain general
similarities between the Tutelo tongue and the dialects of the Dakota
tribes.(4) In 1881 Gatschet made a collection of linguistic material
among the Catawba Indians of South Carolina, and was struck with the
resemblance of many of the vocables to Siouan terms of like meaning,
and began the preparation of a comparative Catawba-Dakota
vocabulary. To this the Tutelo, ¢egiha, {~LATIN SMALL LETTER
TURNED T~}{~LATIN SMALL LETTER OPEN O~}iwe´re, and
Hotcañgara (Winnebago) were added by Dorsey, who made a critical
examination of all Catawba material extant and compared it with
several Dakota dialects, with which he was specially conversant. These
examinations and comparisons demonstrated the affinity between the
Dakota and Catawba tongues and showed them to be of common
descent; and the establishment of this relation made easy the
acceptance of the affinity suggested by Hale between the Dakota and
Tutelo.
Up to this time it was supposed that the eastern tribes "were merely
offshoots of the Dakota;" but in 1883 Hale observed that "while the
language of these eastern tribes is closely allied to that of the western
Dakota, it bears evidence of being older in form,"(5) and consequently
that the Siouan tribes of the interior seem to have migrated westward
from a common fatherland with their eastern brethren bordering the
Atlantic. Subsequently Gatschet discovered that the Biloxi Indians of
the Gulf coast used many terms common to the Siouan tongues; and in
1891 Dorsey visited these Indians and procured a rich collection of
words, phrases, and myths, whereby the Siouan affinity of these
Indians was established. Meantime Mooney began researches among
the Cherokee and cognate tribes of the southern Atlantic slope and
found fresh evidence that their ancient neighbors were related in tongue
and belief with the buffalo hunters of the plains; and he has recently set
forth the relations of the several Atlantic slope tribes of Siouan affinity

in full detail.(6) Through the addition of these eastern tribes the great
Siouan stock is augmented in extent and range and enhanced in interest;
for the records of a group of cognate tribes are thereby increased so
fully as to afford historical perspective and to indicate, if not clearly to
display, the course of tribal differentiation.
According to Dorsey, whose acquaintance with the Siouan Indians was
especially close, the main portion of the Siouan stock, occupying the
continental interior, comprised seven principal divisions (including the
Biloxi and not distinguishing the Asiniboin), each composed of one or
more tribes or confederacies, all defined and classified by linguistic,
social, and mythologic relations; and he and Mooney recognize several
additional groups, denned by linguistic affinity or historical evidence of
intimate relations, in the eastern part of the country. So far as made out
through the latest researches, the grand divisions, confederacies, and
tribes of the stock,(7) with their present condition, are as follows:
1. Dakota-Asiniboin
Dakota ("Friendly") or Ot´-ce-ti ca-ko-win ("Seven council-fires")
confederacy, comprising--
A. Santee, including Mde-wa-kan´-ton-wan ("Spirit Lake village") and
Wa-qpe´-ku-te ("Shoot among deciduous trees"), mostly located in
Knox county, Nebraska, on the former Santee reservation, with some
oa Fort Peck reservation, Montana. B. Sisseton or Si-si´-ton-wan´
("Fish-scale village"), mostly on Sisseton reservation, South Dakota,
partly on Devils Lake reservation, North Dakota. C. Wahpetou or
Wa´-qpe´-ton-wan ("Dwellers among deciduous trees"), mostly on
Devils Lake reservation, North Dakota. D. Yankton or I-hank´-ton-wan
("End village"), in Yankton village, South Dakota. E. Yanktonai or
I-hank´-ton-wan-na ("Little End village"), comprising--
a. Upper Yanktonai, on Standing Rock reservation, North Dakota, with
the Pa´-ba-kse ("Cut head") gens on Devils Lake reservation, North
Dakota. b. Lower