Fwd: Ouakaka or Ouakalke

[Douglas G. Wilson]

Joel S. Berson wrote:
> ... Another correspondent has come up with a similar
> description -- although he didn't mention the city.
--

The connection to Oaxaca was my own speculation, but I see the same
notion (unsupported AFAIK) in a recent book: Google <<houacaca oaxaca>>.

Another etymology apparently is asserted (AFAIK without support) in a
1957 book in Portuguese: I can't read it perfectly because of the
abhorrent snippet presentation but it looks like "vacaca" is here
derived from (?)"vaga"(?) [= "empty"(?)] + "cacá" referring to a
cathartic application. One can search (e.g.) G-books (all words)
<<vacaca purgativo>>.

-- Doug Wilson

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