Lakota Number System

We have the words that describe our base-ten number system. And here Lakota numbers and their English equivalents are written as follows:

wanci=one
numpa= two
yamni= three
topa=four
zaptan=five
sakpe=six
sakowin=seven
saglogan=eight
namciyunka= nine
wikcemna=ten

And to compare number systems further, number operations in Lakota have their English counterparts and are noted respectively:

Iyawapi= addition
yuheyabicu= subtraction
kigle= multiplication
kiyukse=division

The ideas for numbers exist in words or language first. And with the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division the Lakota number system is a complete arithmetic.

Not only the Lakota and Hindu-Arabic used a base-ten system. Other ten-base systems are those of the Arapaho of Wyoming, the Navaho of New Mexico and Arizona, and the Hidatsa of North Dakota. The four system – Lakota, Arapaho, Navaho, Hidatsa- had the words for numbers to a base ten.

Counting, a basic process, has been there all along, used in so many ways by so many people all over the world. Numbers in language develops skills beyond arithmetic. Language helps to understand and further develop the number system. Language with numbers is the road to culture affecting understanding of the world and the way we think. Writing about matters Lakota requires bilingual-English competency, a new standard.

Wicahpi Wanjila- Leroy C. Curley
November 30, 2009

The Titunwun Lakota

The Titunwun Lakota are the people under discussion herein; and The Titunwun Lakota says, the Birth of the Nation Lakota in the language of the Lakota. Ti is the abbreviation of tipi or house and tun is birth while wun is the article, definite or indefinite. In Titunwun, ti is house which connotes dynasty as well as society which describes the nation Lakota. And this community of Lakota Oyate (nation/people) speaks their own language of Lakota now with its own alphabet of 41 letters since 1982 in the European sense of time. The Lakota tradition has its own wintercount and it is way older than the year 2009. The Lakota Year today is more like 10 to 40,000 years of Titunwun Lakota History.

Historical records and some personal narratives do point out that the United States Government forcibly tried to put an end to the use of the Lakota language, but this suppression did not work for some of us who had parents and grandparents who spoke fluent Lakota only. But for those who lost the use of Lakota and switched to English only, they lost a whole world view and gained a confused identity where some of them still don’t know who they are. This results in reactionary and impulsive behavior, and too many social problems. Those who were turned from using Lakota lost their identity and a world of important ideas and values.

What is lost to the Lakota people in English-only mode is tremendous. In one word tawacin, cin is the main part – cin means want and the basic question is taku wacin hwo?, what do you want? And when you answer that question to the best of your ability, other parts of tawacin come into play. Waciniyoyake is when your feelings and heart come into play, which also calls for your will or willpower or your complete physical, mental and spiritual powers. And this is the full meaning of tawacin or will or willpower. The Lakota person without the Lakota language is like an automobile in neutral position with the motor running but nobody to drive it.

In this way of writing and all expressions in Lakota, the importance of the Lakota world view and identity will be re-established for all Lakota. The Titunwun Lakota, Peta Sakowin, Seven Council Fires, are as follows: Sicangu Lakota, Oglala Lakota, Hunkpapa Lakota, Itazipco Lakota, Siha Sapa Lakota, Mnikoju Lakota, and Owohenumpa Lakota.

This is a short introduction as to who we truly are as a nation. Our national and international identity is proven by the Treaties of 1851 and 1868 between the United States and the Lakota Nation. The United States, in error without a clue as to the identity of the Lakota, thought of Sioux fraudulently to label the Lakota. But in truth and nothing but the truth, Titunwun Lakota is the nation in the 1851-1868 Treaties.

Wicahpi Wanjila- Leroy C. Curley
November 30, 2009

Inipi Life-Renewal Ceremony

The Inipi or the Inikaga or Inikagapi in the plural is correctly rendered here as the Life-renewal ceremony. It is one of the most sacred rituals in the Lakota Way where one goes to cleanse oneself in mind, body and spirit. But in the time when English-only speakers. And Lakota-only speakers met for the first time they were prone to misinterpret many words such as here when “sweat” was applied mistakenly, and it has nothing to do with the life-renewal ceremony.

The Lakota word for sweat is temnita which is nowhere to be found in the word inikagapi. The operative ni is life or living in Lakota and thus inikaga is life-renewal. But some of us Lakota do speak fluent English as well as fluent Lakota and it is time to express clearly and truthfully the Lakota Way.

Click here to view more Inipi pictures

I keep using the proper noun Lakota to emphasize that I don’t identify as “Sioux Indian” which is the greatest misnomer of all. After all, Indians live in cities like New Dehli, Culcutta and Bombay while some of us Lakota live in cities like New York, Los Angeles and Laplante (LA).

And thus it is time to go back and recover what is best in the Lakota Way. In this we can clearly overcome the confusion, the social problems, the seemingly permanent jobless economic situation and the needless deaths of some young people.

To do this, a new standard of bi-lingual-biliterate writing and speaking on matters Lakota should be used to clarify our overall spiritual, social and economic condition.

Wicahpi Wanjila- Leroy C. Curley
November 2, 2009