Designation And Mode Of Camping
The Dakota call themselves Otceti cakowin (Oceti sakowin(1)), The Seven
Fireplaces or Council-fires. This designation refers to their original
gentes, the Mdewakantonwan (Mdewakan-tonwan), Waqpekute (Wahpe-kute),
Waqpe-tonwan (Wahpetonwan), Sisitonwan (Sisitonwan), Ihank-tonwan
(Ihanktonwan), Ihank-tonwanna (Ihanktonwanna), and Titonwan (Titonwan).
They camped in two sets of concentric circles, one of four circles,
consisting probably of the Mdewakantonwan, Waqpe-kute, Waqpe-tonwan and
Sisitonwan; and the other of three circles, including the Ihanktonwan,
Ihanktonwanna, and Titonwan, as shown by the dialectal resemblances and
variations as well as by the relative positions of their former habitats.