What does Tsitsistas mean?
The meaning of the Cheyennes' name for themselves, Tsétsėhéstȧhese
(with simplified spelling of Tsitsistas), is uncertain. Various
etymologies have been suggested. Grinnell summarized the most
frequently offered etymologies:
They call themselves Tsistsistas [sic, Grinnell and others copying him included an extra "s"; this should be Tsitsistas; WL],
which the books commonly give as meaning "people." It probably means
related to one another, similarly bred, like us, our people, or us. The
Rev. Rodolphe Petter has pointed out that it may be translated "cut
people,"
"gashed people," for the two words are nearly alike. This last meaning
is
practicaly that given them on the prairie by whites and Indians alike,
and
evidently comes from the distant sign which they used to designate
themselves,
which means "cut arms." If one is speaking by signs to a Cheyenne close
at hand
and asks his tribe, he will make on the back of the left
forward-directed
forefinger two or three diagonal cross lines drawn toward his body with
the
right forefinger, and this is often explained as "striped
feathers"-referring
to those used on the arrows. The sign at a distance is, as said, that
for "cut
arms," but that sign has been misinterpreted by the Blackfeet, who have
mistaken it for the somewhat similar sign for "spotted," and call the
Cheyenne
"spotted people," a designation which seems without appropriate
meaning." (from
George Bird Grinnell, The Cheyenne Indians, Volume I, 1923, pp. 3-4)
A plausible linguistic explanation of the term notes the similarity between
étsėhéstahe 'he is a Cheyenne' and éhéstahe 'he is from there, he
originates from there' (cf. éhesta 'he is that way'). Étsėhéstahe may
having the tse- cataphoric (or pointing) deictic preverb. If this is
the case, then the literal meaning of étsėhéstahe would be 'he is this way
(or thusly) from there'. Inclusion of the cataphoric deictic may have been due
to the frequent use of the hand sign to indicate 'Cheyenne'. Petter, in his
1915 dictionary, page 582, seems to adopt this explanation of the term. If this
hypothesis is correct then the tribal name, Tsétsėhéstȧhese (with simplified spelling of Tsitsistas)
would be literally translated as something like 'those who are thusly from there' or, in
freer terms, 'the people' or 'those who are of that group', in line with
Grinnell's remarks above.
The comments above, excerpted from the Cheyenne Topical Dictionary
(1984, pages 201-202), are similar to a statement on the meaning of
Tsitsistas recently received by email from a fluent Cheyenne speaker
who has linguistic training, experience in writing Cheyenne, and keen
insights into his native language:
Let me give you something that I've often conjectured about concerning
"tsitsistas". It appears to me that whenever a common word in any language
is taken and elevated to the status of a proper noun, it undergoes a
certain metamorphosis that makes it unique and distinctive. Linguists
probably have the appropriate terminology for this metamorphois that I'm
speaking of. Let me give an example: when we say rabbit, we say vohkoohe,
or rabbits, vohkooheho. The basic word comes from evohkoo'e (I think),
meaning "its posture is bent" which is true of a rabbit when seen in
profile.... So to carry these examples further and to apply it to the way we refer to
ourselves, Tsétsėhéstȧhese, it sounds so much like "[tsétsėhestase]" which
means "[people] who look like this," meaning like Cheyenne people. (5/28/97)
[WL note: Tsétsėhestase differs from the name for
the Cheyennes in lacking the "tȧhe" complex syllable with aspirated
(having a puff of air after it) "t" and the high pitch on the "hes"
syllable.]
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