Dakota Language Roman Catholic Catechism

Roman Catholic Catechism, translated in the Dakota language around 1920. MSS 16778. It is not known who translated this document. Earlier Christian documents were translated by certain missionaries who were trying to use the Dakota language to convert indigenous people, into Christianity by identifying similar religious concepts. They soon learned that the Dakota beliefs would not translate to English and Christianity. Instead, these translations have helped to preserve the Dakota language.

Dakota people have tribal lands that cover areas from present day Minnesota, to South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska, and into Canada. They form the Oceti Ŝakowiŋ (the Seven Council Fires which are divisions of the Sioux). Unfortunately, most missionaries and boarding schools shamed the Dakota people to stop speaking their language, to the extent of trying to erase their culture and almost making the Dakota language extinct. These translations give us an opportunity to explore the Dakota and celebrate their culture.

Early missionaries, interpreters, and linguists, Gideon Pond (1810-1878) (Matohota-grizzly bear), his brother, Samuel Pond (1808-1891), (Wanmdiduta- the red eagle), Dr. Thomas S. Williamson (1800-1879), Stephen Return Riggs (1812-1883), Joseph Renville (1779-1846-a son of a Dakota woman), and Samuel Dutton Himnan (1839-1890), lived with the Dakota people and studied their oral language (1). In 1834, the missionaries began recording and deciphering words phonetically and created an alphabet. (2) Dr Williamson, his sister Jane, and his associates printed the Holy Bible in Dakota, called Dakota Wowapi Wakan.

After a few years they produced several reading books, a catechism, a monthly Dakota newspaper, the Book of Genesis, the Gospel of Mark, and by 1865, the New Testament. Their Christian work included studying the Dakota language to identify the meanings of God, religion, and power. The linguists found that these words might seem to have the same meaning on a superficial level, but on closer study, it became clear that the meanings of these words in Dakota were more complex and had different meanings (1).