Day (from sunrise to sunset)—kíădă, abbreviated kíă.
A day (of twenty-four hours, i. e., one day and one night)—pägo kiă´ (="one day").
Dawn—kíăt'ä´ (literally, "first light," t'ä; t'ä seems to be connected with t'aiñ, white;
gyäpá-iñgya).
Sunrise—paí-báda, literally, "the sun has come up."
Morning—kíädä´, literally, fall day; cf. Day and Dawn; gyäpá-iñgya; very early in
the morning—gíñaga (cf. Night); late morning, shortly before noon—kyähíñ
kíäsá.
This morning—íñhoti gyäpá-iñgya.
Noon—kíäsá.
Afternoon (early, until about 3 oclock)—dekíäsa.
Afternoon (late)—déhíñ.
Evening—dám-kóñkya (literally, first darkness); dekómdóle (-gya, from an archaic root
referring to slight darkness).
Night—gíñde; gíñăgya; one night, pägo gi.
Midnight—gíñ-kopá-iñgya; after midnight—gíñă-tógya (togya, after or past).
Tonight—íñhoti gi.
Today—íñhoti kiă.
Yesterday—kíädédal.
Tomorrow—kyähíñgă.
Day after tomorrow—añgádal kíăgyă kyähíñ (literally, a day—kíăgyă; beyond or
more—añgádal; tomorrow—kyähíñ); abbreviated, añgádal kyähíñ.
Day before yesterday—tópde kíädédal, literally, before yesterday; day next before,
understood.
Journey—estimated by "darks," koñ, i. e., nights, instead of by "sleeps." Thus, if
one asks how far away is a certain distant place, he is told that it is pä´go koñ, yía
koñ, one dark, two darks, etc., i. e., that to reach it he must be one night, two
nights, etc., on the road. They understand now how to measure short distances
by the mile, on, literally, "a measure."
Week—The Kiowa did not originally group the days into weeks, but have now
learned to make such a period, counting by Sundays or by the biweekly ration
issue. Thus Sunday is Dakíădă, literally, "medicine day," i. e., "sacred day."
One week is pä´go Dakíădă; two weeks, yía Dakíădă, etc. Next week—ki-gía
Dakíădă, literally, after Sunday; also, koñtä´kia, literally, middle of (issue)
nights.
One issue—pä´go kóñakán, literally, one end or series (akán) of darks or nights.
The regular ration issue is made every two weeks, on Friday, and as this is the
great gathering time of the Indians, when they meet their friends and talk over
matters of mutual interest, it has become a red-letter day and a starting point,
like our Sunday.
Month or moon—p'a. The same word means river or stream, while pa, without the
aspirate, signifies a buffalo bull.
Year—The years are counted hy winters; one year, pägo sai, literally, one winter or
cold season, from saí-gia, or sai, winter; plural, säta.
Days of the week (modern)—Sunday, Dakíădă; Monday, Dakía kyähíñ; Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, have no names, but are counted as two, three,
four, or five days after Sunday; Saturday, Dakía-sän literally, little Sunday.
Christmas (modern)—Píä-kíădă, "eating day," or "feast day."
Fourth of July (modern)—Tsolaí (i. e., July, which they take to be the name of the
day); Tsä´nkia kíădă, "race day," because on that occasion races are held by
the Indians at the agency and at Fort Sill.