Question cocerning the native term for god(s) and imported Christianity

[jess tauber]

The Anglican British missionaries who worked with the Yahgans in Tierra del Fuego up til around 1915 (when they folded up shop) acknowledged the native term, Watauineiwa as meaning 'God', in the dictionary of the language (MS @1879), but then opted for the English form in the three biblical texts and in printed prayer tracts (1880's). Calqued Yahgan and English forms for devils and angels shared space in the texts, but only Yahgan forms were used for 'ghost, spirit' etc. So perhaps there is some sort of hierarchical tendency involved?

In late materials many of the calqued liturgical terms were replaced by Spanish, as many of the surviving Yahgans had become bilingual by the early 1900's.

Jess Tauber
phonosemantics at earthlink.net