'grizzly bear' / 'chief'

[David Gene Lewis]

Isn't there some sort of relationship between the word for man/human and
"bear" in many native vocabularies.
David

On Wed, 3 Nov 1999, David Robertson wrote:

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> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Wed, 3 Nov 1999 10:49:49 -0500
> From: Dell Hymes <dhh4d at virginia.edu>
> To: David Robertson <drobert at tincan.tincan.org>
> Subject: Re: Whence the CJ word for 'grizzly bear'? (fwd)
>
>  The Halqemelem 'siam' (chief') certainly is an interesting possibility.
> Along the Columbia, grizzly bear sometimes was addressed as 'chief' (the
> Wasco word would be i-shtamx).
> 	So the meaning could fit.
>
> 	That still leaves the difference between -ia- and -ai (between s-m)
> to be explained.  Perhaps someone who knows Halqemelem can comment.
>
> 			All best,
> 					Dell
>