Date:  Thu, 3 Nov 1994 23:07:54 -0800

From:  Birrell Walsh <birrell[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]WELL.SF.CA.US>

Subject: Re: ADS



My friend Dan Alford is a linguist of the Cheyenne language. He's

subscribing, but asked that I pass this on to you.



Birrell



 ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 3 Nov 1994 09:01:13 -0800

From: Dan Alford <dalford[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]s1.csuhayward.edu>

To: birrell[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]well.com

Subject: re: ADS (sent also to your bitnet address, so resending)





Interesting fwd. I remember what Sakej said once about this topic -- "I

don't like the word 'Indian'. Too many 'i's (eyes)."



Of course, "Anishinabe" (for sure) and "Assiniboine" (probably) both mean

simply 'The People'. In fact, it's an almost sure bet all through North

America, and even generally true throughout the world, that whenever you

unpack an indigenous people's name for themselves, it means things like:

the people, the ones whose are like us, etc.



I know Anishinabe is Algonquian, and Assiniboine is either Algonquian or

Siouxan (Xkhotan?) -- it's really hard to tell sometimes because although

these are seen to be two major language families, the Cheyennes used to

tell me that there is a deep relationship between the Cheyennes and Lakhotas

that doesn't show up in the whiteman categories. This perhaps had to do with

the Cheyennes already being on the Plains when the Xkhotas arrived, and the

Cheyennes taught them the "Sundance" and other spiritual ways of the Plains,

and there was early intermarriage.



Of course that's only one of many mysteries lurking beneath the surface

of Invader categories of The People. For instance, the way I hear it from

those who live in Nova Scotia, the *Pre-Proto-Algonquian crowd scooted

south during the last ice-age (or the last gasp of the mini-ice-age 8K

years ago or so? -- they're not real good at linear time!) and vacationed

in Mexico while they waited it out; then headed back north and had to

sing the trees back into existence where the glaciers had bulldozed them).

Now I don't particularly care whether you believe all the details or not,

but what is being said here is very important to anthropological linguists:

there is an unsuspected Algonquian influence on the languages of Mexico

(but the Algonquians were *always* way up north, weren't they?). It's just

a matter of what kind of time depth you're willing to look at. If I were

looking into a claim like this, I'd start with the startling similarities

between Mayan and Mikmaq (aka Micmac) glyphs.



Well, more later. I thought I'd saved your message with *subscribe* info,

but it is lost in the electronic haze. Pls send me it again. You may want

to fwd my above to the list, a shadow of my coming!!



                            -- Moonhawk (%->)

  <"The fool on the hill sees the sun going down and>

  <the eyes in his head see the world spinning round">

                     <-- John Lennon>