While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
In this class are included those signs
conveying different ideas, and really different in form of
execution
as well as in conception, yet in which the difference in
form is so slight as practically to require attention and
discrimination. An example from oral speech may be found in
the English word "desert," which, as pronounced "des'-ert"
or "desert'," and in a slightly changed form, "dessert," has
such widely varying significations. These distinctions
relating to signs require graphic illustration.
The sign made by the Dakota, Hidatsa, and several other
tribes, for tree is made by holding
the right hand before the body, back forward, fingers and
thumb separated, then pushing it slightly upward, Fig. 112.
That for grass is the same made near the ground; that
for grow is made like grass, though instead of
holding the back of the hand near the ground the hand is
pushed upward in an interrupted manner, Fig. 113. For
smoke, the hand (with the back down, fingers pointing
upward as in grow) is thrown upward several times
from the same place instead of continuing the whole motion
upward. Frequently the fingers are thrown forward from under
the thumb with each successive upward motion. For fire,
the hand is employed as in the gesture for smoke, but
the motion is frequently more waving, and in other cases
made higher from the ground.
The sign for rain, made by the Shoshoni, Apache, and
other Indians, is by holding the hand (or hands) at the
height of and before
the shoulder, fingers pendent, palm down, then pushing it
downward a short distance, Fig. 114. That for heat is
the same,
with the difference
that the hand is held above the head
and thrust downward toward the
forehead; that for
to weep is made by holding the hand as in rain,
and the gesture made from the eye downward over the cheek,
back of the fingers nearly touching the face.
The common sign for sun is made by bringing the tips
of the thumb and index together so as to form a circle;
remaining fingers closed. The hand
is then
held toward the
sky, Fig. 115. The motion with the
same circular position of index and
thumb is for want,
by bringing the hand backward toward the mouth, in a curve
forming a short arch between the origin and termination of
the gesture.
For drink the gesture by several tribes is the same
as for want, with the slight difference in the
position of the last three fingers, which are not so tightly
clinched, forming somewhat the shape of a cup; and that for
money is made by holding out the hand with the same
arrangement of fingers
in
front of the hips, at a distance of about twelve or fifteen
inches.
Another sign for sun, made by the Cheyennes,
is by placing the tips of the partly
separated thumb and
index of one hand against those
of the other, approximating a
circle, and holding them toward the
sky, Fig. 116, and that for
various things, observed among the Brulé Sioux with the
same position of the hands, is made
by placing the circle horizontal,
and moving it interruptedly toward
the
right
side, each movement forming a short
arch. Compare also the sign for village,
described on
page 386.
The Arikara sign for soldier is by placing the
clinched hands together before the breast, thumbs touching,
then drawing them horizontally outward toward their
respective sides, Fig. 117. That for done, made by
the Hidatsa, is shown below in this paper, see Fig. 334,
page 528. That for much (Cheyenne I,
Comanche III), see Fig. 274, page 447, is to be
correlated with the above.
The sign for to
be told or talked to, and for the
reception of speech, by the tribes
generally, is made by placing the flat right
hand, palm upward, about fifteen inches in
front of the right side of the face or
breast, fingers pointing to the left, then
drawing the hand toward the bottom of the
chin, and is illustrated in Fig. 71, page
291. The Comanche sign for give or
asking is shown in Fig. 301, page 480 (Comanche
III), and is made by bringing the hand
toward the body but a short distance, and
the motion repeated, the tips of the fingers
indicating the outline of a circle.
The tribal sign for Kaiowa,
illustrated in its place among the Tribal
Signs, is made by holding the hand with
extended and separated fingers and thumb
near the side of the head, back outward, and
giving it a rotary motion. This gesture is
made in front of the face by many tribes.
The generic sign for deer, made by
the Dakota and some others, is by holding
the hand motionless at the side of the head,
with extended and separated thumb and
fingers, representing the branched antlers.
That for fool, reported from the same
Indians, is the same as above described for
Kaiowa, which it also signifies,
though frequently only one or two fingers
are used.
The tribal sign both for the Sahaptin
or Nez Percés and for Caddo
(see Tribal Signs) is made by passing the
extended index, pointing under the nose from
right to left. When the second finger is not
tightly closed it strongly resembles the
sign often made for lie, falsehood,
by passing the extended index and second
fingers separated toward the left, over the
mouth.
The tribal sign for Cheyenne (see Tribal
Signs) differs from the sign for spotted
only in the finger (or hand) in the latter
being alternately passed across the upper
and lower sides of the left forearm.
The sign for steal, theft, see Fig.
75, page 293, is but slightly different from
that for bear, see Fig. 239, page
413, especially when the latter is made with
one hand only. The distinction, however, is
that the grasping in the latter sign is not
followed by the idea of concealment in the
former, which is executed by the right hand,
after the motion of grasping, being brought
toward and sometimes under the left armpit.
Cold and winter, see
Tendoy-Huerito Dialogue, page 486, may be
compared with love, see Kin Chē-ĕss'
speech, page 521, and with prisoner.
In these the difference consists in that
cold and winter are represented
by crossing the arms with clinched hands
before the breast; love by crossing
the arms so as to bring the fists more under
the chin, and prisoner by holding the
crossed wrists a foot in front of the
breast.
Melon, squash, muskmelon, used by the
Utes and Apaches, is made by holding the
hand arched, fingers separated and pointing
forward, and pushing the hand forward over a
slight curve near the ground, and the
generic sign for animals by the
Apaches is made in the same manner at the
height intended to represent the object.
The sign for where?, and to
search, to seek for, made by the Dakota
(IV), is by holding the back of the hand
upward, index pointing forward, and carrying
it from left to right about eight inches,
raising and lowering it several times while
so doing, as if quickly pointing at
different objects. That for some of them,
a part of a number of things or persons,
made by the Kaiowa, Comanche, Wichita, and
Apache Indians is nearly identical, the
gesture being made less rapidly.
This site includes some historical
materials that may imply negative stereotypes reflecting the culture or
language of a particular period or place. These items are presented as
part of the historical record and should not be interpreted to mean that
the WebMasters in any way endorse the stereotypes implied.
Sign Language
Among North American Indians Compared with
that Among Other Peoples and Deaf-Mutes,
1881
