TȞAŠÍNA MÁNI: THE NAME AND ITS MEANING

Her Lakota name — Tȟašína Máni — is sometimes translated as “Moving Robe” but the translation is more nuanced than that simple rendering suggests.

Tȟašína refers to a robe or blanket, the kind of large hide garment that was both practical clothing and a carrier of social meaning in Lakota culture.

A woman’s robe — the decoration applied to it, the way she wore it, the occasions on which specific robes were appropriate — was a form of communication in the visual language of Plains culture.

Máni means “walking” or “moving.” The combination — Moving Robe or Walking Robe — suggests something about the motion, the quality of movement, that the name evokes.