From: Ron Crown <crownrw@slu.edu>
Subject: (urth) cutthroat Sioux
Date: Tue, 02 Sep 1997 12:55:32 


[Posted from URTH, a mailing list about Gene Wolfe's New Sun and other works]

[donning pedantic mask] Not that it makes a great deal of difference to
anything BUT in the interest of accuracy, I checked in a couple of
reference sources here and, although the Sioux were known as
"cutthroats" in both spoken and sign language, the word "Sioux"
apparently comes from a combination Ojibwa(Chippewa)/French word
"nadouessioux" which means "little snakes" or "adders."  Furthermore,
the French rendering of the common sign language name was, not too
surprisingly, "coupe-gorges."

mantis, did you say that Severian is referred to as a "cutthroat"?  Do
you have a reference?  I mention it because something else my reference
source tells me is that one name given to the Sioux (by the Chippewa)
means "roasters" "from their custom of torturing foes."  Two other names
given them by the Comanche and Yakima tribes respectively both mean
"beheaders."  

Now what can we make of that?  Just another factoid, if that, which has
gone into the mix?

Ron Crown