We watched Dances With Wolves not too long ago, and once again I noticed the actors speaking Sioux often used a word or phrase that sounded like ‘shnee-ell-oh’.
What does it mean?
A quick check at this website suggests “Don’t shoot!”
“šní él ó!”
It’s been weeks since we watched it, but from what I remember ‘Don’t shoot!’ isn’t something that came up (often?) in the dialogue. ISTR the phrase or word being used inside of tepees or around campfires and such places.
“ó” can also mean “wound” or “hit” by shooting.
My knowledge of Lakota is miniscule (I grew up in Minnesota, so I did pick up some words), and the website is a dictionary, not a phrase book. So I don’t know what Lakota’s tenses and moods are like.
Instead of present imperative, it might he past declarative, e.g., “He/she/it wasn’t hit/wounded.” or “He/she didn’t shoot.”
It might also be a question, either past, present, or future.
The website indicates that whatever it means, it’s a negative sentence.
“šní” can also mean “cool,” “cold,” “extinguished” (as in reference to a fire).
It occurs at 1:04:30 when Kicking Bird (Graham Greene) first suggests to Stands With A Fist (Mary McDonnell) that she might want to marry Dunbar (Kevin Costner).
I think it means something like “I don’t speak the language” or “He doesn’t speak the language”
šni = not
iyÁ = to speak a language
yeló or ló = [used to mark an assertion made by a man]
I get my information from this online Lakota dictionary
That makes sense.
That makes sense. But ISTR hearing more than once. I’ll have to see if I can catch the dialogue next time it’s on.
A similar or identical phrase occurs about 2:16:30 where Wind In His Hair (Rodney Grant) is saying (according to the captions) “I am not the thinker Kicking Bird is.” In this context there is nothing about speaking a language (iyÁ). I think what he’s saying is šni yeló which would be pronounced something like “shnee-ye-LOW.” To judge from Google search results of that exact phrase, it seems be a common way for a man to end almost any negative declarative sentence, with “šni” indicating negative/not and “yeló” being used to mark an assertion made by a man.
That makes even more sense. It sounds akin to the Japanese ‘question particle’ か (ka), which indicates what was spoken was a question; like ‘Koohii o nomimasu ka.’ (Would you like coffee?)
Or yo, yo!
I remember when Shogun first aired on US TV back in the '80s. For some reason, they provided absolutely no subtitles or voiceover translation of the Japanese dialogue. Audiences were completely baffled. (Later versions at least had subtitles that told you what topic the characters were discussing.)
One of the History professors at my college was married to a Japanese woman and had more than one teenage son. (Of course, they were all fluent in Japanese.) The week the series was on, he set aside a large room with a big TV for anyone who wanted to come and watch it.
When we got to the scene where the mean dude in charge of helping Richard Chamberlain told the assembled peasants that all those who failed in their duties would be crucified, the professor and his family burst into laughter. The rest of us just sat there, wondering what the hell was so funny!
The same phrase, or something that sounds a lot like it, occurs at least once more near the end of the film, at 2:47:12, when Ten Bears (Floyd Red Crow Westerman) tells Dunbar, “The man the soldiers are looking for no longer exists.”
I’ve read that having dialogue in Japanese without subtitles was to have the audience be as lost as the shipwrecked crew was. I seem to recall that for critical dialogue Orson Welles fills in some explanation in voice-over.
I remember that too. I think they aired three versions over the years: The original, with no commentary; one with just subtitles/captions like “So-and-so’s treachery revealed!”; and one with commentary by Welles. I guess they couldn’t resist tweaking it every now and then.
And yeah, if you didn’t know Japanese you were as lost as the shipwrecked crew!