UC Merced The Journal of Anthropology

Title Some Wappo Names for People and Languages

Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0q80d4f3

Journal The Journal of California Anthropology, 3(1)

Author Sawyer, J. O.

Publication Date 1976-07-01

Peer reviewed

eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Some Wappo Names for People and I^anguages

J. O. SAWYER

HE Wappo, a group of Indians located particularly shortly after a death. This T about one hundred miles north of San avoidance may have been less binding on Francisco, had a fairly usual set of traditions unrelated persons who sometimes would not for naming people. It is now too late to recover know that a death had occurred, and it was much information about their names—they probably also less binding after some time had have been mostly forgotten as have the people passed following a death.' Another taboo who were named. One aspect, however—their restricted the use of names of relatives by names for some of their neighbors—seems marriage. This taboo was carried over into interesting enough to merit separate comment English usage. Laura Somersal, perhaps the and justifies a brief review of some parts of last Wappo speaker, was usually called their naming traditions. "Laura" by her adopted son, but "aunty" by his The Wappo identified people by personal wife. The use of kinship terms for relatives by name, by kinship term, by where they came marriage as well as others was certainly part of from, or by the language or dialect they spoke. the solution to the naming problem, but not a It would appear that so many possibilities very important one. While it was possible to be would make identifying either individuals or specific and accurate in using kinship terms, a groups easy, yet there is no clear pattern of great many relationships were simply passed naming, and each method seems to fail in some over with general terms like "aunty" or "grand­ way or other. One concludes finally that names father" or "uncle." were really rather rarely used, and their use A final taboo is so amorphous that it was sometimes both improper and trouble­ should perhaps be ignored, but I think it was some. This conclusion about names, and, per­ real to the Wappo. Apparently all females and haps, relationships is supported by such facts probably many males could have several as that a half-brother and sister living only fifty names bestowed by female relatives and female miles apart, might remain unknown to each friends. These names remained the property of other, the relationship being finally discovered the named individuals who, if they were when the brother and sister find in conversa­ female, might give their names to children of tion with each other that they claim the same their choice. Female names survived by father. inheritance.- For males, names tended to die The avoidance of Wappo names is illus­ with their bearers. These customs account for trated by certain taboos. For instance, the the preservation of a handful of Spanish names of the dead were avoided. This taboo feinale names first bestowed on infants apparently applied to immediate relatives and baptized at the Mission San Francisco Solano WAPPO NAMES 121 at Sonoma or perhaps at the mission at San bad luck away from the namebearer. Although Rafael. Among these we find ddloris,fermina, the names //'it'p/'Flatulent Lady\ydwto^met'e keteri-a,mari-a, and teresa (Sawyer 1964:175). 'Devil Woman', and hayuwdw'pi 'Albino No Spanish male names survive from the Bitch' suggest that the men had no corner on mission period. The taboo here is evidenced by the market in unusual names, the women do the fact of secrecy for non-Caucasian names. seem more often to have had pleasant names, No one knew what tribal names you might own such as sintupe-pi''Tarweed Quail Top Lady'— and you might not tell them to anyone, or only the tiipe is the feather which marks the reluctantly. Presumably one was informed by California male quail—or hi le hut'one-pi'Aha- one's mother, or, more likely, grandmother lone Bangs Lady'.'' The hairstyle "bangs" when one was old enough to learn the tribal seems to refer to the lady rather than to the lore, or perhaps the person who had given you abalone, despite the fact that "lady" appears a name told you that you had received such a only in the suffix. Actually, the reference is gift. These names were viewed as property, and more hkely to the abalone pendants that to a certain extent, they and their bearers were ornamented the headdress worn by women in thought to be endangered or insulted if a name some of the dances. These pendants hung became common knowledge.^ Moreover, the down in front of the eyes in a way designed to name one actually used was not necessarily one make it difficult to see what was going on. of these. The name used might be an informal Raising the eyes was discouraged in certain nickname like "Geyserville Joe" or perhaps an dances. English or Spanish name like Mrs. Laura Fish Names in themselves were not identified as Somersal, in which the "Laura" is a shortening either male or female. This fits with the fact of "doloris," "Mr. Fish," a translation of her that women were the name distributors and father's Southern name, '^dhsan, and purveyors. It fits well with the fact that the "Somersal," the last name of her husband, Jim language rarely marks masculine and femi­ Somersal, a Pomo. All the Wappo I have nine. The third person, for instance, is cephi, a known have always had an "American" name deictic that refers indifferently to "he's" and for use and one or more Wappo names which "she's" and "it's" in the immediate environ­ might be used or not. I could know their ment. When one wanted to specify sex one Wappo names only because I do not believe in could add met'e 'woman' to some names, and the tradition. Non-believers seem to be taboo- elsewhere met'e was inserted following a noun free. in utterances when required, met'e, however, Some rather amusing and almost scurri­ does not seem to have been really polite when lous names for males existed well into the used in names. If female was not specified, twentieth century. These names appear to have male was assumed, this in spite of the fact that originated as a result of the working of the the Wappo appear to have had matriarchal system of name taboos, and they represent still tendencies in their social organization. At least another aspect of the taboos. Like "Geyser­ two female chiefs are recorded, and presum­ ville Joe," these are names that were actually ably there were others. However, the powers of used. Here we have such gems as Ara'/^'^^-^'Mr. female chiefs were limited to directing the Vagina' and m/

-pi—compare the word for female leader, An intermediate sort of solution existed above—is a polite female marker surviving in in the tendency to identify people and groups kinship terms and in most personal names for of people by their geographical location. women: -vap/''younger sister'; -a'/zH'fl-p/'sister- This not only meant that an individual might in-law', compare -cihwa 'husband's or wife's be marked as coming from a certain town brother'; -''dchpi 'younger brother's wife', or village, but more Hkely that he spoke the compare -^dcha 'any male cousin'; -^eyk'a-pi Indian language that had once been com­ 'daughter', compare -^eyk'a 'son, baby, child'; mon there. As time passed, the old village -"^ekhe'pi 'daughter's daughter', compare names disappeared, and dialects and people -''ekhe 'daughter's son'; -''ese-pi 'daughter-in- began to be labelled with American names. law, son's wife, mother's sister's son's wife, From time to time, I have heard Mrs. Somersal son's son's wife, daughter's son's wife', com­ refer to people as Hopland people—Napa, pare -'^ese 'son's daughter, son's son'; -"^echpi Cloverdale, or Ukiah people. In each case, she 'wife of a nephew, any female cousin, any meant that the person spoke the kind of niece', compare -''echa 'elder sister'.* The language or dialect which characterized each hyphens mark the fact that kinship terms are town at some past time, perhaps a half-century inalienably possessed, requiring the appropri­ or so ago. The fact that these placenames ate pronoun prefix in all their occurrences. catalogued dialect varieties was sometimes In the case of the honorifics, "male" is expanded by gloomy or at least negative marked by the suffix -has. -has differs from -pi, lucubrations, such as "Them Napa people though, in that it does not occur in any ofthe always drag their words." kinship terms, it is rare (whereas -pi occurs in The geographical pattern became impor­ most female names), and it seems not to be tant in a slightly different way in the late really serious. For instance, Coyote, whose Western period, when many began to take as name is homophonous with 'crazy', is called family names the family names ofthe owners hut'has, literally 'Mr. Crazy'. The affix -has ofthe ranches on which they lived. This custom was used to personify a variety of people, accounts for the surprising proliferation of a things, animals, and birds in myths: k'ek'has rather small number of obviously non-Indian 'fish-crane', lelhas 'Old Rock', hinhas 'Old names in the Wappo area. I once commented Man Moon'(Radin 1929:151; 1924:48,49,100, to a local politician on my surprise in dis­ 101). Its rarity and nonparallel applications covering that he bore a name that I had only may only be the result of the adequacy ofthe known as a famous name among the Indians. -pi suffix in solving the problem of specifying My tactlessness in not recognizing that his was sex and the general pattern of the language in the famous name was greeted by a stolid and having special ways of designating femaleness angry silence. when that seemed necessary. However, its lack Some, and perhaps all, of the geographi­ of seriousness suggests the ribaldry of the cally located neighbors were identified as names used by the men, while the female -pi -nokh, 'friends'. The Southern Pomo were the does have the more staid tone of the names the wennokh lit. 'south friends'. The people from women used. Whether this means that the 'Goose Camp' were the Idkhnomanokh, and so women were treated with some deference or on. Of course, these designations could only be that only the men were valuable enough to be used by people who were not part ofthe group protected by names that would ward off the being designated. negative forces of a harsh world is impossible The fact that mise wal survived as a name to say. Indeed, in 1976 it seems dangerous even for the Russian River Wappo, or some group to speculate about such matters. of them between Geyserville and Healdsburg, WAPPO NAMES 123 may depend on the contrast between -nokh describes people from around Lower Lake. and wdl. wdl is the Wappo word for 'enemy'. The "^on is 'people', the plural of k'd' 'person'. The name mise-wal must have been very na- is one of a variety of affixes from ndn confusing to the Wappo, suggesting as it does 'mouth'. Translating ndn here as 'talk' stretches an unfriendly relationship between two of their it pretty far in the direction of an unusual own groups. Their etymology was, of course, a specificity. ', the name-marker, is difficult in folk etymology. Callaghan (1965:94, 153) has that there are three varieties of the prefix missewalImissowal for 'Alexander Valley' in derived from ndn; na'-, nah-, and na''-. . The subentry missowal ''dataw However, the occurrence of a ' following a 'the Santa Rosa language (Wappo)' appears to morpheme used as the first element in a name is mean that the Lake Miwok called the Wappo not unusual: ''unu''cdwa 'toyon' plus hoPtree" language the Alexander Valley language. The becomes ''unu''cdwa''hol, name for the Geyser­ many Miwok words containing wdli 'area, ville Rancheria. It is possible, also, that this ^is space' may have no connection, and Catherine identical with the vocative marker ', as in ''dya Fowler believes missewal/missowal to be 'father'-^avfl^ 'Father!' For names to include a borrowed in Lake Miwok. Whatever the vocative marker seems possible or even likely. origin, the absence of occurrences of a root The -is occurs as part of a substantial number mi's- in Wappo together with the semantic of nouns; it occurs only rarely as part of a verb problem of -wal, make it virtually impossible paradigm, and then only perhaps as a that mise-wal could be an originally Wappo denominal. The -is is nicely presented in word. 'oniskhi'' 'became people' and lulis lul'i'' 'play In addition to names from places, villages, the flute' lit. 'flute play'. The meaning 'like' is and ranches, the Wappo recognized a few obviously a compromise. major categories, superdialects, that they used The Eastern Pomo from around the north as names for people coming from a variety of end of were called the ''ona''k'6y'is places which might be associated with large 'the people who crush or knead their words'. areas rather than with single locales. These Just exactly what this meant is again not clear. were the language titles they gave to themselves The idea of talking with a mouth full of either and some of their neighbors, groups which mush or rocks, while known to English, is not included many villages and speakers of many very helpful in Wappo. The root k'oy'- occurs dialect varieties. Here the language was fairly frequently: pihk'oy'si'' 'crush with the characterized by the way it sounded. More­ feet', 'ohk'dy'e'' imp. 'knead!' Most suggestive over, the fact that people were identified by of all, perhaps, is the noun-verb phrase ''okel their speech, by the way they sounded, is rather k'dy'i'' 'translate, interpret'—''okel is 'word'. explicit. The idea that the Wappo viewed translation as One language group, perhaps Miwok, essentially word crushing is characteristic of a "almost like the Bodega Miwok but from rather extensive interest in language that was around Lower Lake," was called the ''ona'^chi- once part of their culture. Of course, it is his literally, 'people talk name-marker chih possible that the ''ona''k'dy'is acted as like', ''on-(n)a-''-chih-is. Mrs. Somersal said that translators between the Wappo and some of the speakers of this language used a lot of i's their more distant neighbors. and f's. Catherine Fowler has suggested that Another Wappo name for the Southern Bodega Miwok, with its many occurrences of Pomo, the wennokh, ''ona''cilis is a more c, is more likely than Lake Miwok in which s is satisfying example. This seems to describe common but c rare. However, Mrs. Somersal people who talk with a "tune, the tune they is adamant that the name in her dialect carries." The description suggests that the 124 THE JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA ANTHROPOLOGY

Wappo recognized that Southern Pomo was a case the number would not be very large. There tone language. Compare Wappo ciPa ringing are only five or six languages on the Wappo sound', cilmi' 'rings, as of bells', and so on. perimeter, and the Wappo seem to have Conversely it suggests that Wappo itself was been inveterate stay-at-homes—excluding, of not recently a tone language. course, the summer trips to festivals and Another word to be included in this small dances and the water—any water. Clear Lake set is the Wappo word for themselves, was certainly one of the places they were fond ''ona''cdtis. Naturally they are easier on of visiting. That would account for the themselves than on their neighbors. Where inclusion of the Eastern Pomo at the north end their description of the various Pomo groups of Clear Lake, people whose land was not always verges on ridicule, their designation of contiguous to Wappo land. As far as I can themselves seems downright flattering, 'the determine, the Somersal family has Hved people who talk openly, who speak the truth'. around Geyserville from the time of the Mrs. Somersal further defines ''ona'^cdtis by American Revolution and probably from long saying that they are "... outspoken; they don't before that. care what they say, even if people are hurt, they All in all, these language names would be say it." There is an overtone of bragging as well treated as sound-descriptive phenomena de­ as of being crudely and almost cruelly truthful. spite the uncertainties of Ar'dv'- 'to knead' and We lose here the clear characterization ofthe cdt- 'to brag, to tell the truth [?]'. Wappo does sound of the language, although such may not have any great store of sound-imitative have been there originally. In part this shift items, however, and the names stand out as from the pattern of the other names is unusual vocabulary grouped around a single paralleled by the change from the suffix -is, a concept. Their existence seems to be a response nominal derivational element to the -is that is to the ordinary need for identifying people, probably to be identified with the causative perhaps a mild reaction to the inadequacy of verb suffix. The root cat- occurs in a few other the personal name patterns. Moreover, they do words, none really very helpful in establishing not appear to be neologisms. The Wappo the meaning of this root: compare hucdti'la^ probably used these words as names without 'Watch out!', may'hucdti-ti''lit. 'self head' cdt-, any conscious awareness either of their sound- imp. 'watch out for yourself!, be careful!'; or imitative quality or their parallelism as a k'a'hucdtis 'a person who is smart or intelli­ group. Perhaps these were, if anything, only gent'; and finally, kdwa-yu'' hucalis 'a wild kinder versions of hut'has, kdta''has, and horse', kdwa-yu'', of course, is from Spanish mice-hel, half-serious labels designed only to caballo. keep their bearers from being really unrecog­ I am encouraged to believe that the kind of nizable or unknown. name that labels a people and a language by the As semantic items, they reverse a common way the language sounds was less limited in order of languages named after people— Central California than it appears here from Danes speak Danish; Swedes speak Swedish, my three or four examples by the fact that and so on. In a way the Wappo preserve the George M. Foster (1944:161 A) reports a Yuki pattern which makes language and person the name for the Little Lake Pomo, nukdnimi "the same—as if we are indeed what we speak: fast talkers'.'' Italians speak Italian; Burmese speak Burm­ Although there are a few other names for ese; the ''ona''cdtis speak ''ona''cdtis. The tribes, none has the consistency and pattern of Wappo appear to have named people after this group of Wappo words.* It is regrettable their languages, at least some of the time. The that other names have not survived, but in any easy procedure of identifying the person and WAPPO NAMES 125 his language with the place from which he NOTES comes—for better or for worse—was certainly an ordinary procedure among the Wappo, as 1. That the taboo was an areal phenomenon, as among others.' But the unifying themes that was much else in Wappo culture, is suggested by exist most compellingly in all of these names such facts as that a Pomo once told me that a are the trace of taboo and the aura of mock relative was called "old basket sticks" after his seriousness that pervades the entire system. death. His name had been homophonous with the The name-creating mechanism viewed name for the willow tree commonly used in basket without reference to specific peoples has a making. My principal Wappo informant, Mrs. variety of possible guiding features, including Laura Fish Somersal, is half Southern Pomo. so (1) the sex of the child or the desire on the part that there is always a possibility that she has been of the family—usually the parents—for a girl influenced by her Pomo knowledge in describing rather than a boy or vice versa (the sex of the the Wappo part of her heritage. However, the name giver may also be involved); (2) the time influence of Pomo on Wappo is evident in many aspects that cannot be attributed to any single of birth; (3) the place of birth; (4) specific nam­ individual, and Mrs. Somersal has evidenced a ing traditions of any particular group within good awareness of the necessity of keeping her two any larger group; (5) the realization of the languages apart. uniqueness of the child—possibly evidenced by unique names; (6) the protection or aggran­ 2. Note that the tradition of female name control disement of the child by names that are either encourages a situation in which some names must be unmarked for sex and assures us of the good or bad, grand, or simple to the point of extinction of many purely male names. A woman ugliness; (7) the naming or not naming ofthe could create a new name, but it is unclear to what child after specific individuals; (8) the use of extent the supply of names consisted of names names that are identifiable only as human passed on and names newly created. My feeling is traits or human names; (9) the use of translat­ that new names have been more common recently able names reflecting various aspects of the and that they may have been less so in the past. The exterior world; and finally (10) the fact that taboo on the names ofthe dead, of course, suggests names could be secret. The Wappo to a greater that names would not be easily recyclable. Since the or lesser extent observed one, three, five, six, names were almost always rather descriptive, it is seven, nine, and ten. Names were given by not clear today whether any of the Wappo names females and were marked for sex, but for girls were popular and could be used at one time of more only and in a somewhat questionable way—the than one person. Such a pattern would be phenomenon may be recent. Place was marked automatically denied by the idea that a name was a property, that it could be given but not shared. Yet in some cases. Names were mostly unique, and Mrs. Laura Somersal gave an uncle's name to the the child was, if anything, denigrated by his son of an American friend. Graeme Fitzwilliam names. At best one could only hope for a McDonnell became hdlapi'ta; the language and reasonably pleasant name, nothing really source of the name are in the Pomo spoken around grand. If one were named after an individual, Hopland. that individual was presumably long dead, and the recycled name was bestowed by a female 3. Mrs. Somersal always referred to my language work with her as "he's taking my language," as if she who had some control over the name. Chances herself no longer owned her native language once are one's name was probably that of some non- she had taught it to me. human thing in one's world. Finally, it was secret. 4. Slang names and some of the somewhat derogatory names may have been popular crea­ tions. They may represent the only contribution of University of California, Berkeley the men to the naming tradition, but there is no way 126 THE JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA ANTHROPOLOGY now of knowing for sure that the creation of these generation ago. Driver lists hayuwdw'"wh\tc dog' as was not also limited to the women of the group. a woman's name without the -pi. I have only been 5. Driver (1936:212). In his discussion of names given the name with the -pi. (1936:205-207), Driver finds little evidence to 1. Nukdnimi is interesting as being not merely a support the claim 1 have made that the women were borrowing but a complicated borrowing. Either the primary in the naming traditions. I prefer my pattern of naming people from the sound of their version because of the surprising survival of only language is borrowed by the Yuki from the Wappo female Spanish names from the mission period. Or the Yuki translated a Wappo name into Yuki. Driver finds the great difference between men's and Both solutions imply mutual intelligibility, i.e., women's names to lie in the fact that men were more bilingualism between the two very different frequently named after "inanimate objects," as for languages, kdni is a Yuki word for 'language, instance, "conical basket," "necklace," "dark words', and Yuki does not name tribes by the way sticks," while women more frequently had descrip­ their language sounded. tive nicknames such as "laughing," "potato bug," 8. The mere-nokh, for instance, are the Coast "fiat head," and "wrinkled face." Driver should Miwok from Bodega Bay. Although this term may be consulted for his long list of names and for consist of the word for 'water', mey plus -nokh his classification of name categories. In descending 'friend', it is more likely meye 'sweat', plus -nokh order of frequency, these are: land animals, aspects 'friend'. Perhaps the meye nokh either shared or conditions of persons (nicknames), inanimate sweathouses or played sweathouse gambling games objects, birds, plants, actions, fish, and natural with the Wappo. This explanation verges danger­ forces. ously close to translation error, however, since the 6. Calling the suffix -pi an honorific may be less Wappo did not associate the word "sweat" with than realistic. It is probably identical with the -pi what we call sweathouse activities. which occurs in the following forms: helpipdl' 9. I was first made aware ofthe relation of sound 'ashes', lit. 'fire from dust'; meyhinawelapi 'from description to tribal names by comments of M. R. San Francisco', lit. 'water other side from'; Haas. The preceding discussion is offered as an addi­ kolapimey 'grape juice', lit. 'grape from water'; tion to her information about the phenomenon. liicepipol' 'cigarette ash', lit. 'tobacco from dust'. Here the -pi means 'from' or 'belonging to'. Since the roots in most names are not really translatable it REFERENCES is impossible to know whether a name like c'dkpi 'blackbird woman' (Driver 1936:205) is literally Callaghan, Catherine 'belonging to blackbird' or 'from (the) blackbird', 1965 Lake Miwok Dictionary. University of but in any case the Wappo speaker must always California Publications in Linguistics have been aware of the fact that this female suffix 39:94, 153. was homophonous with the one that meant 'from' or 'belonging to'. Driver, Harold It is important to note that Driver has men's 1936 Wappo Ethnography. University of Cali­ names with -pi and women's names without it. In fornia Publications in American Archae­ the case of such names as ''awet'iilpi 'potato valley ology and Ethnology 36(3):205-207, 212. woman' the name probably originally meant 'from potato valley', for otherwise we must assume that a Foster, George M. woman's name was passed on to a male child 1944 A Summary of Yuki Culture. Anthropo­ complete with its suffix -p/ 'woman'. We could, of logical Records 5(3):I61A. course, speculate that originally women were mostly identified by where they came from or to Radin, Paul whom they belonged. The evidence for the former 1924 Wappo Texts. University of California seems somewhat likely. However, we should also Publications in American Archaeology note that the -pi may not have been obligatory a and Ethnology 19:94, 153. WAPPO NAMES 127

1929 A Grammar of the Wappo Language. Sawyer, J. O. University of California Publications in 1964 The Imphcations of Spanish/r/ and /rr/ American Archaeology and Ethnology in Wappo. Romance Philology 18(2): 175. 27:151.