What's in a name?

[jhetley]

(Continuing the Shakespearian title theme)

Noted in today's sports news, that a certain university gets to continue using "Fighting Sioux" as a sports-team title for three years, but must discontinue if they can't get approval from the tribal powers.

Okay.  I am not aware that any Native American tribal complex self-identifies as "Sioux"... 

I could be wrong.  That has happened before.  But I had the impression that "Sioux" was applied to the group by its enemies, and was considered an insult.

Above and beyond that, if the collective tribal group is anything like the ones I know better, it has many separate and not-necessarily-friendly governments.  Maine tribes, all collectively Wabanaki, have five or six competing tribal governments.  Even the subset known as Passamaquoddy have two, for a few thousand members.

This, besides the question of why "Fighting Sioux" should be considered more offensive than "Fighting Irish."

Comments

[wcg.livejournal.com]

Beats the hell outta me Jim.

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about the word Sioux:
The name "Sioux" is an abbreviated form of Nadouessioux borrowed into French Canadian from Nadoüessioüak from the early Odawa exonym: naadowesiwag "Sioux".[6] It was first used by Jean Nicolet in 1640.[3] The Proto-Algonquian form *na·towe·wa, meaning "Northern Iroquoian", has reflexes in several daughter languages that refer to a small rattlesnake (massasauga, Sistrurus).[7] This information was interpreted by some that the Ottawa borrowing was an insult. However, this Proto-Algonquian term most likely is ultimately was derived from a form *-a·towe·, meaning simply "speak foreign language",[6] which was later extended in meaning in some Algonquian languages to refer to the massasauga. Thus, contrary to many accounts, the old Odawa word naadowesiwag never equated the Sioux with snakes. This is not confirmed though, as usage over the previous decades has led to this term having negative connotations to those tribes to which it refers. This would explain why many tribes have rejected this term when referring to themselves.

Some of the tribes have formally or informally adopted traditional names: the Rosebud Sioux Tribe is also known as the Sicangu Oyate, and the Oglala often use the name Oglala Lakota Oyate, rather than the English "Oglala Sioux Tribe" or OST. (The alternative English spelling of Ogallala is considered improper).[3]

I'll call 'em Lakota, Dakota, or Nakota. That's what they seem to like.