Terms for "white man"

Koontz John E John.Koontz at colorado.edu
Wed Mar 10 16:44:18 UTC 2004


On Wed, 10 Mar 2004, "Alfred W. Tüting" wrote:
> Yet, in today's Native literature, there's commonly(?) referred to a
> different etymology:
> was^iN' (fat not dried out, fat meat; pork) +
> ic^u' (to take, take up anything; accept, receive) -> 'fat-taker'
> (stealer of fat).
>
> What do you think about it? Is it (maybe biased) 'folk etymology'?
> (phonologically, this derivation doesn't seem to fit too well.)

Some of those who subscribe to this explanation are deeply loyal to it,
and offer detailed justifications for it, but I'm pretty sure it's a folk
etymology, i.e., a secondary reanalysis of a term with originally a
different explanation.



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