Message from Garcia: The History and Culture of the Spirit Lake Nation
The Latin language is used for scientific terms world-wide. No matter what the native language is used by a scientist, they can make known to a foreign colleague the exact plant, animal, or heavenly body being referred to. As an example, a scientist can’t refer to a ‘bear’ while doing animal research project. There are many kinds of bear’s world-wide. In North America we have the Black, Grizzly, Polar, Brown, American, Alaskan, Kodiak, White, Ice, Water, Cinnamon, Glacier, and Silver Tip Bear. By using the official Latin term, we can exactly determine which bear is being referenced. Bears belong to the ‘Family’ Ursidae, their ‘Taxonomy’ is U.a. americanus, U. a. horribilis, and U.a. martitimus. Without going into detail, we see these three Latin names cover the Black, Grizzly, and Polar Bear; these are only bear’s in North America. The other names are just local terms.
Shall I go on to the plant world? I think I have made the point.
Some of you may remember when Latin was used for all the rights of the Catholic Church, doctors’ prescriptions, and a required language for high school graduation.
Lawyers also use Latin in their craft; Nolo Contendere, Habeas Corpus, and Corpus Delicti are some examples. Centuries ago in Europe, only the wealthy went to school; the poor learned a trade or farmed. Very few were allowed to be literate. Latin was used as secret language, a sacred language, to keep knowledge from those who did not ‘pay’ for it or the undeserving.
The Dakota too had a secret language, the Wohdake Wakan (Sacred or Holy Language).
The use of sacred language by intellectuals was to keep certain knowledge (wosdonye) from those who have not paid, or those that do not have the right of possession. Ceremonial and medical knowledge are the two main areas that employed this secret language. Certain powers can be invoked in prayer; descriptions of medicinal plants, or religious terms are all formulated from common everyday language. The speaker by using words out of context, invoke a mutual understanding only to those who have the secret knowledge.
Reverend Stephen Riggs recorded some of the sacred language in his 1852 Dakota dictionary. They are as follows:
WohdakeWakan (Sacred Language)
Hepan (2nd born, if a male)
Sunka (dog)
Hanpa (moccasin)
Hunonpa (two Legged)
Hutopa (four legged)
Tunkan (holy stone)
Paza (?)
Nide (?)
Tatanka (male bison)
Waduta (Something Scarlet)
Unci (grandmother)
Hanyetuna (night time)
Tasapa (his blackness)
Wiyohpeyata Wicaŝta (man of the west)
Ikcewoiye (Common Words)
(from corresponding list above)
means Ptan (otter)
means Pte (female bison
means Sunkawakan (horse)
means Wicasta (man)
means Ŝunktokca (wolf)
means Inyan (rock)
means Can (tree)
means Mini (water)
means Pezutawicasta (herbal doctor)
means Wakan (Sacred)
means Anpetuwi (sun)
means Wakaksica (black bear)
means Wakaksica (black back)
means Wakinyan (thunder)
An intercessor might pray (cekiya), “Hepan is my spiritual helper (Sicun)” Meaning an Otter is his helper. “A yellow tunkan is coming”. Meaning a sacred stone is coming from the east. Yellow is the color associated with the east. We can also find many terms in the Sacred Language used in songs. Long ago there was a song for every area of Dakota customs, something the Dakota people are moving away from in our modern lives.
Source:
Sacred Language: The Nature of Supernatural Discourse in Lakota. By William K. Powers. University of Oklahoma Press: Norman, 1986.
Teton Sioux Music. By Francis Densmore, Bureau of American Ethnology, Smithsonian Institute Bulletin 61,
Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 1918.
(see footnotes on the Sacred Language, pages 85 and 120).
A Dakota – English Dictionary By Reverend Stephen Return Riggs, Ross and Haines, Inc. Minneapolis, 1968.
