The Calendar History of Kiowa Indians (Illustrated Edition). James Mooney

notes, 1895, in Bur. Am. Eth.

      Kai-wane´—Hodge, MS. Pueblo notes, 1895, in Bur. Am. Eth. (Picuris name).

      Kawas—Senate Ex. Doc. 72, 20th Cong., 104, 1829. Kawa—La Flesche, Omaha MS. in Bur. Am. Eth. (Omaha name).

      Kayaguas—Bent, 1846, in House Doc. 76, 30th Cong., 1st sess., 11, 1848.

      Kayaways—Pike, Expedition, app. III, 73, 1810.

      Kayowa—Gatschet, Kaw MS., 1878, in Bur. Am. Eth. (K aw and Tonkawa name).

      Ka´yowe´—Gatschet, in American Antiquarian, IV, 281, 1881.

      Kayowû—Grayson, Creek MS. in Bur. Am. Eth., 1886 (Creek name).

      Kayuguas—Bent, 1846, in Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes, I, 244, 1851.

      Ka´yuwa—Dorsey, Kansas MS. Voc., 1882, in Bur. Am. Eth. (Kaw name).

      Keawas—Porter, 1829, in Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes, III, 596, 1853.

      Keaways—Farnham, Travels, 29, 1843.

      Ki´-â-wâ—Lewis, Report, 1805, in Mess. from the President Communicating Discoveries by Lewis and Clark, etc, 37, 1806.

      Kiaways—Gallatin, in Trans. American Ethn. Soc., II, cvii, 1848.

      Kinawas—Gallatin, in Trans. American Antiq. Soc., II, 133, 1836 (misprint).

      Kiniwas—Wilkes, U. S. Exploring Exped., IV, 473, 1845 (misprint).

      Kiovas—Möllhausen, Journey to the Pacific, I, 158, 1858 (misprint).

      Kiowas—Rept. Comm'r Ind. Affairs, 240, 1834. This is the American official and geographic form; pronounced Kai´-o-wa.

      Kiowahs—Davis, El Gringo, 17, 1857.

      Kioways—Brackenridge, Views of Louisiana, 80, 1814.

      Kiwaa—Kendall, Santa Fé Ex., I, 198, 1844 (given as the pronunciation of Caygüa).

      Kuyawas—Sage, Scenes in the Rocky Mountains, 167, 1846.

      Kyaways—Pike (1807), Expedition, app. II, 16, 1810.

      Riana—Kennedy, Texas, I, 189, 1841 (double misprint).

      Ryawas—Morse, Rept. on Ind. Aff., app., 367, 1822 (misprint).

      Ryuwas—Brackenridge, Views of Louisiana, 85, 1814 (misprint).

      Ko´mpabi´ănta—"Large tipi flaps," a name sometimes used by the Kiowa to designate themselves.

      Kompa´go—An abbreviated form of Ko´mpabi´anta.

      Kwu´'dă´—"Coming out" or "going out;" the most ancient name by which the Kiowa designated themselves. See Te´pdă´.

      Na'la´ni—"Many aliens," or "many enemies;" the collective Navaho name for the southern plains tribes, particularly the Comanche and Kiowa.

      Nĭ´chihinĕ´na—"Rivermen," the Arapaho name, from nĭ´chia river and hinĕ´na (singular hinĕ´n) men. The Kiowa are said to have been so called from their long residence on the upper Arkansas.

      Ni-ci´-he-nen-a—Hayden, Ethn. and Phil. Missouri Valley, 326, 1862.

      Nitchihi—Gatschet in American Antiquarian, IV, 281, 1881.

      Shi´sh-i-nu´-wut-tsi´t-a-ni-o—Hayden, Ethn. and Phil. Missouri Val., 290, 1862. Improperly given as the Cheyenne name for the Kiowa and rendered "rattlesnake people." The proper form is Shĭ´shĭnu´wut-tsĭtäni´u, "snake [not rattlesnake] people," and is the Cheyenne name for the Comanche, not the Kiowa, whom the Cheyenne call Witapä´tu. The mistake arose from the fact that the Comanche and Kiowa are confederated.

      Te´pdă´—"Coming out," "going out," "issuing" (as water from a spring, or ants from a hole); an ancient name used by the Kiowa to designate themselves, but later than Kwu´`da, q. v. The two names, which have the same meaning, may refer to their mythic origin or to their coming into the plains region. The name Te´pdă´ may have been substituted for Kwu´`da´, in accordance with a custom of the tribe, on account of the death of some person bearing a name suggestive of the earlier form.

      Tepk`i´ñägo—"People coming out," another form of Te´pdă´.

      Wi´tapähä´tu—The Dakota name, which the Dakota commonly render as people of the "island butte," from wita, island, and pähä, locative pähäta, a butte. They are unable to assign any satisfactory reason for such a name. See Witapähät.

      T'häpet'häpa´yit'he—Arbuthnut letter in Bur. Am. Eth. (given as the Cheyenne name for the Kiowa).

      Vi´täpä´tu´i—Name used for the Kiowa by the Sutaya division of the Cheyenne.

      Watakpahata—Mallery in Fourth Ann. Rep. Bur. Eth., 109, 1886.

      Wate-pana-toes—Brackenridge, Views of Louisiana, 85, 1814 (misprint).

      Watepaneto—Drake, Book of Indians, xii, 1848 (misprint).

      Wetahato—Lewis, Travels, 15, 1809 (misprint).

      Wetapahato—Lewis and Clark, Expedition, Allen ed., I, 34, map, 1814.

      We-te-pâ-hâ´-to—Lewis, Report, 1805, in Mess. from the President Communicating Discoveries by Lewis and Clark, etc, 36, 1806. (Incorrectly given as distinct from the Kiowa, but allied to them.)

      Wetopahata—Mallery, in Fourth Ann. Rep. Bur. Eth., 109, 1886.

      Wettaphato—Morse, Report on Indian Affairs, app., 366, 1882.

      Wi´tăpähät, Wităp´ätu—Cheyenne forms, derived from the Dakota form Witapähätu, or vice versa. The Dakota render the name "island butte." Attempts have been made to translate it from the Cheyenne language as people with "cheeks painted red" (wi´tapa, red paint; tu, cheek bone), but there is no evidence that this habit was specially characteristic of the Kiowa. It may possibly be derived from the ancient name Te´pdă´, q.v.

      Wi´-ta-pa-ha—Riggs-Dorsey, Dakota-English Dictionary, 579, 1890.

      Tribal Sign

       Table of Contents

      To make the sign for "Kiowa" in the sign language of the plains tribes, the right hand is held close to the right cheek, with back down, fingers touching and slightly curved, and the hand moved in a rotary motion from the wrist. According to the Kiowa this sign had its origin in an old custom of their warriors, who formerly cut the hair from the right side of the head, on a line with the base of the ear, in order better to display the ear pendants, while allowing it to grow to full length on the left side, so as to be braided and wrapped with otter skin after the common fashion of the southern plains tribes. This was in addition to the ordinary small scalplock hanging down behind. This style of wearing the hair, although now nearly obsolete from long association with tribes of different habit, is still occasionally seen. It is shown in the picture of the chief Big-bow, taken in 1870 (figure 43).

      Dodge thus correctly explains the sign: "Kiowa—The open palm, held bowl-shaped, to right of and beside the face, is passed round and round in a circle. Supposed to indicate the peculiarity of these Indians in cutting the hair of the right side of the head" (Dodge, 2).

      The sign has no connection with the idea of "rattle-brain," "crazy head," "crazy knife," "drinking water," or "prairie people rising up," as has been variously stated; neither is the sign ever properly