Note 246 — I. VOCABULARIES OF SOME OF THE TRIBES OF NORTHWESTERN AMERICA, WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE INDIAN SIGN LANGUAGE

Not wakatunka, as Vail says. This name is composed of two words; and, therefore, is not to be written as one. The first word, uakan, less correctly wakan, is the expression for god, divine, supernatural; the second, tanka, not tunka, means great. Vail and others also very often write uakan, incorrectly wah-kon. The Dacóta words which I give here are written from the pronunciation of the half-breed interpreter, Ortubize.—Maximilian.

Comment by Ed. This reference is to Eugene A. Vail, Notice sur les Indiens de l'Amerique du Nord (Paris, 1840).