This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
THE MDEWAKAᴺTOᴺWAᴺ
5

the Ihañktoⁿwaⁿ, Ihañktoⁿwaⁿna, and Titoⁿwaⁿ, as shown by the dialectal resemblances and variations as well as by the relative positions of their former habitats.

THE MDEWAKAᴺTOᴺWAᴺ

The Mdewakaⁿtoⁿwaⁿ were so called from their former habitat, Mdewakaⁿ, or Mysterious lake, commonly called Spirit lake, one of the Mille Lacs in Minnesota. The whole name means Mysterious Lake village, and the term was used by De I'lsle as early as 1703. The Mdewakaⁿtoⁿwaⁿ were the original Santee, but the white people, following the usage of the Ihañktoⁿwaⁿ, Ihañktoⁿwaⁿna, and Titoⁿwaⁿ, now extend that name to the Waqpekute, Waqpetoⁿwaⁿ, and Sisitoⁿwaⁿ. The gentes of the Mdewakaⁿtoⁿwaⁿ are as follows:[1]

1. Kiyuksa, Breakers (of the law or custom); so called because members of this gens disregarded the marriage law by taking wives within the gens.

2. Qe-mini-tcaⁿ (Ḣe-mini-ćaɳ) or Qemnitca (Ḣemnića), literally, "Mountain-water-wood;" so called from a hill covered with limber that appears to rise out of the water. This was the gens of Red Wing, whose village was a short distance from Lake Pepin, Minnesota.

3. Kap'oja (Kapoźa), Not encumbered-with-much-baggage; "Light Infantry," "Kaposia, or Little Crow's village," in Minnesota, in 1852.

4. Maxa-yute-cni (Maġa-yute-'sni), Eats-no-geese.

5. Qeyata-otoⁿwe (Ḣeyata-otoɳwe), of-its-chief-Hake-wacte (Hake waṡte); Qeyata-toⁿwaⁿ (Ḣeyata-toɳwaɳ) of Reverend A. L. Riggs, Village-back-from-the-river.

——————————

  1. S. R. Riggs, in Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, vol. IV, p. xvi, 1852, and in Contributions to North American Ethnology, vol. IX.