According to Mashém and the clanmother known as Juana Maria, the
proper name of the tribe known as Seri is _Kunkáak_ (the first vowel
obscure and the succeeding consonant nasalized; perhaps _Kⁿ-káak_ or
_Kᵐ-káak_ would better express the sound). According to Kolusio, as
rendered by M Pinart, the Seri term for people or nation is _kom-kak_,
while the Seri people are designated specifically as _Kmike_, this
designation being practically equivalent phonetically (and doubtless
semantically) to Sr Tenochio’s general term for women, _kamykij_.
Mashém was unable or unwilling to give the precise signification of
the tribal appellation used by him, merely indicating Juana Maria
and one or two other elderwomen squatting near as examples or types;
but comparison of the elements of the term with those used in other
vocables affords a fairly clear inkling as to its meaning. The syllable
_kun_ (or _kⁿ_, _kon_, _kom_, etc.) certainly connotes age and
woman, and apparently connotes also life or living (_kun-kaīe_=old
woman, McGee; _i-kom_=a wife, _ekam_=alive, Bartlett; _hikkam_=a
wife, _kmam-kikamman_=a married woman, _Yak-kom_=Yaqui tribe, Pinart;
_kon-kabre_=an old woman, Tenochio), the forms being distinct from the
word for woman (_kmamm_, McGee; _ék-e-mam_, Bartlett; _kmam_, Pinart
and Tenochio) and widely different from the term for man (_kŭ-tŭmm_,
McGee; _ék-e-tam_, Bartlett; _ktam_, Pinart; _tam_, Tenochio) with its
several combining variants; there are also indications in numerous
vocables that it connotes person or personality. On the whole, the
syllable appears to be an ill-formulated or uncrystallized expression,
denoting at once and associatively (1) the state of living or being,
(2) personality, (3) age or ancientness (or both), and (4) either
femininity or maternity (much more probably the latter), this inchoate
condition of the term being quite in accord with other characters
of the Seri tongue, and frequently paralleled among other primitive
languages. The syllable _kaak_ (or _kak_, and probably _kok_, _koj_,
_kolch_, etc.) would seem to be a still more vague and colloidal
term, despite the fact that it is used separately to designate
the fire-drill. There are fairly decisive indications that it is
composite, the initial portion denoting place and the final portion
perhaps more vaguely connoting class or kind with an implication
of excellence, both elements appearing in various vocables (too
numerous to quote). On the whole, _kaak_ would appear to be a typical
egocentric or ethnocentric term, designating and dignifying Person,
Place, Time, and Mode, after the manner characteristic of primitive
thought;[226] so that it may perhaps be translated “Our-Great-(or
Strong-)Kind-Now-Here”. The combination of the two syllables affords
a characteristically colloidal connotation of concepts, common enough
in primitive use, but not expressible by any single term of modern
language; in a descriptive way the complete term might be interpreted
as “Our-Living-Ancient-Strongkind-Elderwomen-Now-Here,” while with
the utmost elision the interpretation could hardly be reduced
beyond “Our-Great-Motherfolk-Here” without fatal loss of original
signification. It should be noted that the designation is made to cover
the animals of Seriland (at least the zoic tutelaries of the tribe) and
fire as well as the human folk.
[226] Cf. The Beginning of Mathematics, in the American Anthropologist,
new series, vol. I, 1899, p. 651.
The proper tribe name is of no small interest as an index to primitive
thought, and as an illustration of an early stage in linguistic
development. It is significant, too, as an expression of the matronymic
organization, and of the leading role played by the clanmothers in
the simple legislative and judicative affairs of the tribe; and it is
especially significant as an indication of the intimate association of
fire and life in primitive thought.
* * * * *
The designation “Seri”, with its several variants, is undoubtedly an
alien appellation, and neither Mashém nor Kolusio could throw light
on its origin or meaning, though they did not apparently regard it as
opprobrious. Peñafiel describes it as an Opata term; and Pimentel’s
Opata vocabulary[227] (extracted from the grammar and dictionary
compiled by Padre Natal Lombardo) indicates its meaning satisfactorily,
albeit without special reference to the tribe. The key term in this
vocabulary is “_Sërerài_, velocidad de la persona que corre.” The
accent over the first vowel serves to indicate prolongation, so that
term and definition may be rendered, literally, _se-ererài_, speed of
the person who runs. Analysis of the term shows that the essential
factor or root is that introduced elsewhere in the same vocabulary
as “_Ere_, llegar.” Now, “llegar” is a protean and undifferentiated
Spanish verb neuter, without satisfactory English equivalent; it may
be interpreted as arrive, reach, attain, fetch, endure, continue,
accomplish, suffice, ascend, or mount to, while as a verb active and
verb reflective its equivalents are approach, join, proceed a little
distance, unite, etc.; it may be said to imply movement or process with
a centripetal connotation—i. e., a connotation antithetic to that of
the expressive irregular verb “ir” in its protean forms, including
the ubiquitous and ever-present “vamos” (an American slang equivalent
of the Castilian verb “llegar” in certain of its phases is the strong
interjectory phrase, “get together”). The prefix <i>se</i> is merely an
intensive, running not merely through the Opata, but throughout various
tongues of the Piman stock. In his extensive vocabulary of the Pima and
Papago Indians of Arizona (1871),[228] Captain F. E. Grossmann defines
the term “_se_, very, ad. (prefix)”, and over a hundred and fifty of
his terms illustrate the use of this adjectival or adverbial prefix
as an undifferentiated yet vigorous intensive (e. g., _uf_, female or
woman, _se-uf_, a lady—great or grand woman; _ō´k_, high or height,
_se-ō´k_, highmost); and in the Pimentel vocabulary this signification
is attested by several other terms (e. g., “_Sererai_, paso menudo
y bueno”). Finally, the intercalated consonant _r_ is a common
participial element in the Piman, while the suffix _ài_ is a habitual
assertive termination, as shown by various terms in the Pimentel and
other vocabularies. Dropping this termination, the expression becomes
_se-erer_, or—without the nonessential participial element—_se-ere_,
signifying (so far as can be ascertained from the construction of the
language) “moving”, or “mover”, qualified by a vigorous intensive.[229]
To one familiar with the strikingly light movement characteristic of
the Seri—a movement far lighter than that of the professional sprinter
or of the thoroughbred “collected” by a skilful equestrian, and
recalling that of the antelope skimming the plain in recurrent impulses
of unseen hoof-touches, or that of the alert coyote seemingly floating
eerily about the slumbering camp—this appellation appears peculiarly
fit; for it is the habit of the errant Seri to roam spryly and swiftly
on soundless tiptoes, to come and go like fleeting shadows of passing
cloudlets, and on detection to slip behind shrub or rock and into the
distance so lightly as to make no audible sign or visible trail, yet
so fleetly withal as to evade the hard-riding horseman. The Seri range
over a region of runners: the Opata themselves are no mean racers,
since, according to Velasco and Bartlett, “In twenty-four hours they
have been known to run from 40 to 50 leagues”;[230] and, according to
Lumholtz, their collinguals, the Tarahumari, or “Counting-Runners”, are
named from their custom of racing,[231] and display almost incredible
endurance:
[227] Vocabulario Manual de la Lengua Ópata, por Francisco Pimentel;
Boletin de la Sociedad Mexicana de Geografia y Estadistica, tomo X,
1863, pp. 287-313.
[228] In the archives of the Bureau of American Ethnology.
[229] The latter form (_se-ere_) corresponds precisely with the current
Papago pronunciation of the term, though none of the various Papago
informants consulted were able to interpret the expression; indeed,
they simply relegated it to the category of “old names” which they
deemed it needless to discuss. An archaic form of orthography, noted in
the synonymy (pp. 128-130), is SSeri, which suggests the same sounding
of the initial sibilant.
[230] From 105 to 130 miles; Bartlett, Personal Narrative, vol. I, p.
445.
[231] Memoirs of the International Congress of Anthropology, Chicago,
1894, p. 104. In a letter to Mr F. W. Hodge, under date of September
11, 1900, Dr Lumholtz says: “After renewed investigation I have come to
another opinion regarding the meaning of the tribal name _Tarahumari_.
This word is a Spanish corruption of the native name ‘Raramuri’. Though
the meaning of this word is not clear, that much is certain that
_rala_ or _tara_ means ‘foot’, and I therefore take it that we must
be at least approximately correct when we say that the word signifies
‘foot-runner’.”
An Indian has been known to carry a letter from Guazapares
to Chihuahua and back again in five days, the distance being
nearly 800 miles. In some parts where the Tarahumaris serve
the Mexicans they are used to run in the wild horses, driving
them into the corral. It may take them two or three days to
do it, sleeping at night and living on a little pinole. They
bring in the horses thoroughly exhausted, while they themselves
are still fresh. They will outrun any horses if you give them
time enough. They will pursue deer in the snow or with dogs
in the rain for days and days, until at last the animal is
cornered and shot with arrows or falls an easy prey from sheer
exhaustion, its hoofs dropping off.[232]
[232] American Anthropologist, vol. VIII, 1895, p. 92.
The Papago, of the same region and linguistic stock, have a racing
game in which a ball of wood or stone caught on the foot is thrown,
followed, and thrown again until the two or more rival racers have
covered 20 to 40 miles in the course of a few hours; and their feats
as couriers and trailers are quite up to those of the Opata. Yet among
all these tribes, and among the Mexicans as well, the Seri are known
as _the_ runners par excellence of the Sonoran province; and it is but
natural that their astounding swiftness and lightness of foot should
have brought them an appellation among contemporaries to whom these
qualities peculiarly appeal.
Accordingly, both derivation and connotation give meaning to the name,
and warrant the rendering (much weakened by linguistic infelicities)
of “spry” or “spry-moving”, used in substantive sense and with an
intensive implication.
* * * * *
The chronicles of the tribe, especially those written during the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, indicate that the alien
designation was applied loosely and with little appreciation of the
tribal organization, just as was the case elsewhere throughout the
continent. Gradually the chroniclers took cognizance of intertribal
and intratribal relations, and introduced various distinctions in
nomenclature expressing tribal or subtribal distinctions of greater
or less importance. One of the earliest distinctions was that between
the Seri and the Tepoka, and this distinction has been consistently
maintained by nearly all later authorities, despite the commonly
accepted fact (brought out most authoritatively by Hardy) that
the tongues of the tribes are substantially alike. Another early
distinction was that made between the Seri and the Guayma; it was based
primarily on diversity of habitat and persistent enmity, though all the
earlier authorities agreed, as well shown by Ramirez, that the tongues
were essentially identical. The distinction has been maintained by
most authorities and strongly emphasized by one (Pinart, as quoted by
Bandelier), and since the Guayma are extinct, and hence beyond reach
of direct inquiry, the early interpretation of tribal relation must be
perpetuated.[233] Still another distinction was that made between the
Upanguayma and the Guayma, and inferentially the Seri also; although
the grounds for this distinction were not specifically stated, it seems
to have grown out of diversity in habitat merely; but there were clear
implications that the tribe or subtribe was affiliated linguistically
with the Guayma, and hence with the Seri, and this assignment has been
adopted by leading authorities, including Pimentel and Orozco. Among
the earlier distinctions based on industrial factors was the setting
apart of the Salineros, or Seri Salineros; yet this distinction,
fortuitous and variable at the best, expressed no essential character
and has not been maintained. A much later distinction was that between
the Seri and Tiburones, emphasized by Mühleupfordt and exaggerated
by Buschmann; but there seem to have been no better grounds for it
than misapprehensions naturally attending a slowly crystallizing
nomenclature. In any event it has not been maintained.
[233] In view of the clear indications, both a priori and a posteriori,
that the latest Guayma survivors must have taken the language of the
Piman (Yaqui) tribesmen with whom they found refuge, and in view of
his failure thus far to present his data for public consideration, M
Pinart’s inference that the Guayma belonged linguistically to the Piman
stock can hardly be admitted to hold against the specific statements of
the Jesuit missionaries and such accomplished inquirers as Ramirez and
Pimentel.
At several stages the chroniclers coupled the Seri with other tribes,
on various grounds: in the eighteenth century they were thus combined
with the Pima, the Piato, and especially the Apache tribes. In the
earlier half of the nineteenth century they were frequently coupled
in similar fashion with the Pima and Apache tribes, and in the later
half of the nineteenth century, and even in its last lustrum, they
have been similarly combined with the Yaqui. The later combinations
seem to explain the earlier: the Yaqui outbreaks withdraw portions of
the arm-bearing population from the Seri frontier, and the marauders
take advantage of the withdrawal so regularly that a Yaqui scare is
invariably followed by a Seri scare, and hence the two warlike tribes
are constantly associated in the minds of the Sonorenses as synchronous
insurrectionists; and scrutiny of the earlier chronicles indicates that
most of the so-called combinations of former times were of similar sort.
On putting the chronicles together, it seems clear that the term “Seri”
was originally of lax application, but was gradually restricted to the
tribe inhabiting Tiburon and ranging adjacent territory, including the
collingual but inimical Guayma and Upanguayma, and also the collingual
and cotolerant Tepoka; and that the various Piman tribes, as well
as the Apache, were always distinct, and commonly if not invariably
inimical.
* * * * *
The ethnic relations of the Seri people attracted early and repeated
attention. Humboldt gave currency, albeit not unquestioningly, to a
supposed Chinese or related Oriental affiliation; Hardy noted the
similarity of the Seri tongue to that of the Patagonians; Lavandera
classed the language as Arabic; Stone and Bancroft circulated a
supposed identification of the speech with the Welsh; Ramirez, and
more especially Pimentel, narrowed the field of affiliation to
Mexico and defined the tongue as distinct; Orozco y Berra, and more
especially Malte-Brun, slightly reextended the field and suggested
affiliation with the Caribs; while Herzog, Gatschet, and Brinton
reextended the field in another direction and saw, in a vocabulary
obtained from a Seri scion but alien thinker, similarities between
the Serian and Yuman tongues. The recent researches tend strongly to
corroborate the evidence collected and the conclusions reached by
Ramirez and Pimentel; for the somewhat extended comparisons between
the Serian and neighboring languages (introduced and discussed in
other paragraphs) indicate that the Seri tongue is distinct save for
two or three Cochimi or other Yuman elements, which may be loan words
such as might readily have been obtained through the largely inimical
interchange of earlier centuries described by Padre Juan Maria de
Sonora and other pioneer observers—certainly the slight and superficial
similarities with other tongues of the region seem insufficient to
meet the classific requirement of supposititious descent from “a
common ancestral speech”.[234] Accordingly the group may be defined
(at least provisionally) as a linguistic family or stock, and may be
distinguished by the family name long ago applied by Pimentel and
Orozco, with the termination prescribed in Powell’s fifth rule,[235]
viz., _Serian_. Conformably, the classification of the group would
become—
[234] Indian linguistic families, by J. W. Powell, in Seventh Annual
Report, Bureau of Ethnology, 1885-86 (1891), p. 11.
[235] Ibid., p. 10.
Serian stock, comprising—
Seri tribe, including Tiburones and (certain) Salineros;
Tepoka tribe;
Guayma tribe;
Upanguayma tribe.
Naturally this classification is provisional in certain respects. It
is little more than tentative in so far as the Tepoka are concerned,
since no word of the Tepoka tongue has ever been recorded, so far
as is known, and since the tribe is still extant and within reach
of research; it must be held provisional also in respect to the
separateness of the stock, which may be found in the future to be
affiliated with neighboring stocks, though the effect of the more
recent and more critical researches in eliminating supposed evidences
of affiliation points in the opposite direction. The arrangement is in
some measure provisional also with respect to the relations between the
long-extinct Guayma and Upanguayma and the type tribe, especially since
contrary suggestion has been offered in terms implying the existence
of unpublished data; yet the presumption in favor of the critical work
by Ramirez, Pimentel, and Orozco is so strong that practically this
feature of the classification may be deemed final.
* * * * *
No attempt has been made to render the tribal synonymy exhaustive,
though search of the records has incidentally brought out the more
important synonyms, as follows:
_Seri Tribe_
CERES—1826; Hardy, Travels, p. 95.
CERI—1875; Pimentel, Lenguas Indígenas, tomo II, p. 229.
CERIS—1745; Villa-Señor, Theatro Americano, p. 391.
CERIS TEPOCAS—1850; Velasco, Noticias Estadísticas, p. 132.
HERI—1854; Buschmann, Die Spuren der aztekischen Sprache, p. 221.
HERIS—1645; Ribas, Triumphos de Nuestra Santa Fee, p. 358.
HERISES—1690 (?); Van der Aa, map.
SADI—1896; San Francisco Chronicle, January 24.
SE-ERE—Etymologic form.
SERES—1844; Mühlenpfordt, Republik Mejico, Band I, p. 210.
SERI—1754; [Ortega], Apostolicos Afanes, p. 244.
SERIS—1694; Mange, Resumen de Noticias (Documentos para la Historia
de Mexico, série 4, tomo I, p. 235).
SERI SALINEROS—1842; Alegre, Historia de la Compañia de Jesus,
tomo III, p. 117.
SERIS SALINEROS—1694; Mange, Resumen de Noticias (Documentos,
série 4, tomo I, p. 321).
SERYS—1754; [Ortega], Apostolicos Afanes, p. 367.
SORIS—1900; Deniker, The Races of Man, p. 533.
SSERI—1883; Gatschet, Der Yuma Sprachstamm, p. 129.
ZERIS—1731; Dominguez, Diario (MS.).
KMIKE—1879; Pinart, MS. vocabulary.
KOMKAK—1879; Pinart, MS. vocabulary.
KUNKAAK—1896; McGee and Johnson, “Seriland”, Nat. Geog. Mag., vol.
VII, p. 133.
SALINEROS—1727; Rivera, Diario y Derrotero, I. 514-1519.
TIBURON—1799; Cortez (Pacific Railroad Reports, vol. III, p. 122).
TIBURONES—1792; Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, segunda parte,
p. 426.
TIBUROW CERES—1826; Hardy, Travels, p. 299.
_Tepoka Tribe_
TEPECO—1847; Disturnell, Mapa de los Estados Unidos de Mejico,
New York.
TEPOCA—1748; Villa-Señor, Theatro Americano, p. 392.
TEPOCA CERES—1826; Hardy, Travels, p. 299.
TEPOCAS—1748; Villa-Señor, Theatro Americano, p. 391.
TEPOCOC—1865; Velasco, Bol. Soc. Mex. Geog. y Estad., tomo XI,
p. 125.
TEPOKA—Phonetic form.
TEPOPA—1875; Dewey, map.
TEPOQUIS—1757; Venegas, Noticia, tomo II, p. 343.
TOPOKIS—1702; Kino, map (in Stocklein, Der Neue Welt-Bott).
TOPOQUIS—1701; Kino, map (in Bancroft, Works, vol. XVII, 1889,
p. 360).
_Guayma Tribe_
BAYMAS—1754; [Ortega], Apostolicos Afanes, p. 377.
GAYAMA—1826 (?); Pike (Balbi), (in Pimentel, Lenguas Indígenas,
tomo II, p. 234).
GUAIMA—1861; Buckingham Smith, Heve Grammar, p. 7.
GUAIMAS—1702; Kino, map (in Stocklein, Der Neue Welt-Bott).
GUAYAMAS—1757; Venegas, Noticias, tomo II, p. 79.
GUAYMA—1701; Juan Maria de Sonora, Report (Documentos para la Historia
de Mexico, série 4, tomo V, p. 154).
GUAYMAS—1700; Juan Maria de Sonora, Report (Documentos para la
Historia de Mexico, série 4, tomo V, p. 126).
GUAYMI—1882; Bancroft Works, vol. III, (Native Races, vol. III),
p. 704.
GUAYMIS—1844; Mühlenpfordt, Republik Mejico, Band I, p. 210.
GUEIMAS—1748; Villa-Señor, Theatro Americano, p. 401.
GUEYMAS—1748; Villa-Señor, Theatro Americano, p. 402.
GUIAMAS—1763; [Nentwig?], Rudo Ensayo, p. 229.
GUIMIES (?)—1701; Kino, map (Bancroft, Works, vol. XVII, 1889,
p. 360).
_Upanguayma Tribe_
HOUPIN GUAYMAS—1829; Hardy, map.
JUMPANGUAYMAS—1860; Velasco, Bol. Soc. Mex. Geog. y Estad., tomo
VIII, p. 292.
JUPANGUEIMAS—1748; Villa-Señor, Theatro Americano, p. 401.
OPAN GUAIMAS—1763; [Nentwig?], Rudo Ensayo, p. 229.
UPANGUAIMA—1864; Orozco y Berra, Geografía de las Lenguas, p. 42.
UPANGUAIMAS—1878; Malte-Brun, Congrès International des Américanistes,
tome II, p. 38.
UPANGUAYMA—Synthetic form.
UPANGUAYMAS—1882; Bancroft, Works (Native Races, vol. I, p. 605).
UPAN-GUAYMAS—1890; Bandelier, Investigations in the Southwest, p. 75.
Possibly the name _Cocomagues_ (1864, Orozco y Berra, Geografía de las
Lenguas, p. 42), or _Cocomaques_ (1727, Rivera, Diario y Derrotero, I.
1514-1519) should be introduced among the synonyms of the Seri, but
in the absence of definite information it may perhaps better be left
unassigned.[236]
[236] These names seem rather to be Yuman; cf. _Coco_pa, _Coco_nino,
_Coco_maricopa, _Ko_hun, etc.
Of the four tribes assigned to the stock, the Upanguayma have been
extinct probably for more than a century; the Guayma may survive in a
few representatives probably of mixed blood and adopted language; the
Tepoka have never received systematic investigation, but appear to
survive in limited numbers on the eastern coast of Gulf of California
about the embouchure of the Rio Ignacio sand-wash; while the Seri alone
continue to form a prominent factor in Sonoran thought.