kuku'i ghost

[Mark-Awakuni Swetland]

aloha all,
A term came up in my Omaha III class today that I thought I'd share with y'all.

We were talking about a stuffed skeleton toy "ni'kashiNga wahi'" (bone person) and contrasting it with "wanoN'xe" (ghost or spirit). An Omaha student who recently transfered into UNL from the Omaha reservation offered the term "kuku'i" as ghost. He reported the term used by his Omaha grandmother residing in Sioux City, Iowa.

One of our speakers suggested it was a Mexican Spanish term, as her Mexican Mother-in-Law uses the term commonly in south Texas... but had not heard it used in the Omaha community.

Any thoughts?

wibthahoN,
wagoNze Uthixide

Mark Awakuni-Swetland, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Anthropology/Ethnic Studies
Native American Studies
University of Nebraska
841 Oldfather Hall 
Lincoln, NE 68588-0368
402-472-3455
FAX 402-472-9642
mawakuni-swetland2 at unl.edu

UmoNhoN ie thethudi
Omaha Language Spoken Here
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