polaltes?

[Joel S. Berson]

At 11/9/2010 07:44 PM, Barbara Need wrote:
>I confess that my first guess is poleaxes. What is the larger context?
>(I.e., is this a print or handwritten source?)

I don't have more context at hand, because it comes from another
list.  But it's definitely print, although still in page proofs (an
indexer is working and wondering).

And of course my message should read "*there* may be a dictionary",
not "their".

Joel


>Barbara
>
>Barbara Need
>Ithaca
>
>On 9 Nov 2010, at 7:21 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>
>>Anyone know what this means?
>>
>>polaltes
>>
>>context: When on the bluff, about 400 Indians came running along the
>>beach flashing their polaltes.
>>
>>The tribe is Wiyot, was in the San Francisco Bay area around 1820ish.
>>[Perhaps a word from their "Macro-Algonquian" language (OED on
>>"Wiyot").  Googling hints that their may be a dictionary.]
>>
>>(And don't suggest "patooties", unless you have evidence.)
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org