Virtues-wolves-coyotes

[bi1 at soas.ac.uk]

Does anyone know the derivation of the Lakota word for coyote
yas^le or mayas^leca.  It is very 'opaque' as they say, not like most
Lakota animal terms which often have a derived meaning as in
s^ungmanitu or wamakhas^kaN. I think I once heard that it was an
Athabaskan/Dine borrowing.
Bruce

> > 'To be merciful; to pity' is dha?e=...dhe (a causative).
>
> I looked for a cognate in Dakotan, and found only yak?e 'wolf', which
> matches dha?e in form, but not very well in meaning.   I believe that
> cognates of *rak?e=...re are widespread in Dhegiha.  I supposed it might
> be *rax?e=...re - I'd have to check the Quapaw form.  The rest merge *x?
> and *k? as k?, which becomes ? in OP.  .
>
> JEK
>