You may well know the name and word” Dakota” as alternatively a person’s name , name of a state in the USA- ( North Dakota and South Dakota) , a brand name of a truck or even the name of the building complex where John Lennon of the Beatles music band lived and was shot by a Mr. Mark Chapman.
How on earth did this versatile and varied word and name originate and come to be?
The word “Dakota “is Sioux North American aboriginal first nation’s word that was used to demote a certain tribe within the Sioux nation. Within the Sioux language the word or name translates to “friend” or alternatively “the allies” within the Lakota Sioux language.
The Sioux themselves can be said to be one large group or any or all of a number of ethnic groups within the Great Sioux Nation. Sioux as a language can refer to one of any of the nation’s major variants and dialects.
Three major divisions comprise the Sioux.
1) Isanti (“Knife” originating from the name of a lake in what is now the American northern state of Minnesota. The Isanti Sioux can also be referenced as the Santee or Eastern Dakota Sioux and as such are located physically and geographically in the extreme east of the Dakota. Minnesota and Northern Iowa
2) Tetonwan or Teton Sioux – which can be translated loosely as “Dwellers on the Vast Prairies). These groups are the westernmost Sioux who are held high in renown as hunters and warriors. The Teton Sioux are proudly referred to as the “Lakota”
3) Lastly in the middle are the Ihanktowan – Ihanktowana – the “Middle Sioux” for their geographic location. The Inhanktwoan-Ihanktowana can said to inhabit the middle ground between the two other Sioux divides or divisions. The name can be said to mean either “Little-village- at – the- end “or alternatively “Village-at-the-end”. Residing along and in the Minnesota River areas, they are considered to be the essence of the “Middle Sioux” often being referred to as the Western Dakota or Yankton middle Sioux.
Today the Sioux maintain a number of different and separate tribal governments located across the divides , internationally in the American Dakotas ( North and South Dakotas), Nebraska, Minnesota and in the Canadian western provinces of Saskatchewan ( in the southern areas) and lastly in the Canadian province of Manitoba.
http://www.hotel-ring.com
http://www.dakotahotel.mb.ca/
