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Origin and history of Siouan

Siouan(adj.)

"pertaining to the Sioux," 1885, from Sioux + -an. Replacing Dakotan.

also from 1885

Entries linking to Siouan

Sioux

in reference to a family or group of North American native peoples, 1761, from North American French, short for Nadouessioux, sometimes said to be from Ojibway (Algonquian) Natowessiwak (plural), literally "little snakes," from nadowe "Iroquois" ("(big) snakes"). Another explanation traces it to early Ottawa (Algonquian) singular /na:towe:ssi/ (plural /na:towe:ssiwak/) "Sioux," apparently from a verb meaning "to speak a foreign language" [Bright]. In either case, a name given by their neighbors; the people's name for themselves is Dakota.

-an

word-forming element meaning "pertaining to," from Latin -anus, adjective suffix, in some cases via French -ain, -en. From PIE *-no-.

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    Trends of Siouan

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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    Kansas
    Siouan people of the American Midwest, 1806, from French, a variant of Kansa (itself in English from 1722), from /kká:ze,...a Siouan term referring to members of the Dhegiha branch of the Siouan family....The Siouan word is a plural....
    Arkansas
    organized as a U.S. territory 1819, admitted as a state 1836; it was named for the Arkansas River, which was named for a Siouan...by Algonquian speakers; this consists of /a-/, an Algonquian prefix found in the names of ethnic groups, plus /kká:ze, a Siouan...term referring to members of the Dhegiha branch of the Siouan family....
    Sacagawea
    She had been a captive among the Hidatsas (a Siouan people), and her Hidatsa name was tsaka'aka wi'a, lit....
    Dakota
    1809, name of a group of native peoples from the American plains speaking a Siouan language, from Dakota dakhota "friendly...
    Iowa
    admitted as a state 1846, named for the river, ultimately from the name of the native people, of the Chiwere branch of the Siouan...
    Nebraska
    U.S. territory organized 1854, admitted as a state 1867, from a native Siouan name for the Platte River, either Omaha ni...
    Missouri
    originally a name for a group of native peoples among Chiwere (Siouan) tribes, from an Algonquian word recorded c. 1700,...
    crow
    general common name of birds of the genus Corvus (the larger sort being sometimes called ravens), Old English crawe, which is held to be imitative of the bird's cry. Compare Old Saxon kraia, Dutch kraai, Old High German chraja, German Kräke. Also other imitative bird-names such a
    Indian
    "inhabit of India or South Asia; pertaining to India," c. 1300 (noun and adjective), from Late Latin indianus, from India (see India). Applied to the aboriginal native inhabitants of the Americas from at least 1553 as a noun (1610s as an adjective), reflecting Spanish and Portugu
    language
    late 13c., langage "words, what is said, conversation, talk," from Old French langage "speech, words, oratory; a tribe, people, nation" (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *linguaticum, from Latin lingua "tongue," also "speech, language," from PIE root *dnghu- "tongue." The -u- is an Anglo

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