coyotes

[David Costa]

So, is mikka/micha perhaps the reconstructible Mississippi Valley Siouan
name for the coyote?

----------
>From: "Rankin, Robert L" <rankin at ku.edu>
>To: "'siouan at lists.colorado.edu '" <siouan at lists.colorado.edu>
>Subject: RE: coyotes
>Date: Tue, Jul 16, 2002, 8:32 am
>

>
>> Yes mica is interesting too.
>
> The term "micha" seems closer to a real name as opposed to a taboo
> replacement.  It is the second half of the Kaw term, "$oN-mikka-se"
> 'coyote'.  The $oN- portion is clearly the $uNke term for canid.  I don't
> know if -mikka is a noun or adjectival verb stem.  Actually, in Kaw the
> coyote is more commonly a diminutive: $oNmikkase-hinga, with the noun alone
> more commonly 'wolf', but as wolves are no longer present in the southern
> plains, the term now is/was used for coyote.
>
> I've never run across a term for Wolverine.  It's a northern animal, and I
> doubt there were distinct terms for it in Dhegiha languages.
>
> Bob