etymology of Apsa'alooka

[Rgraczyk at aol.com]

In following the discussion on the etymologies of Mandan and Hidatsa, I was
struck by the statement, "The Hidatsa were known by a number of terms,
including Gros Ventres/Big Bellies, Minataries and a collective term
'Mirokac' which included the River Crows.

'Mirokac' looks very much like the Crow term bi'ilukaa, which the Crows use
to refer to themselves, and which is sometimes glossed 'our side, our people,
we Crows'.  The glosses suggest that the term includes the 1 person stative
pronoun bii-.  This term is obviously cognate with the Hidatsa; I presume
that the 'c' in 'Mirokac' is the Hi declarative sentence-final marker.  I am
wondering if luukaa/roka is also found as the last part of Apsa'alooka.
Crows usually say that this means 'children of the long-beaked bird', i.e.,
apa' 'nose, beak' + isa'a 'big' plus looka 'children'.  I have always felt
that this is a folk etymology, since the word for children in Crow is da'aka,
not do'oka.  In other words, the vowels do not match very well.
Interestingly, there is another word that contains a similar element:
baawilo'oka or baawulo'oka 'virgin'.  In all three cases, looka/luuka refers
to persons.  Does anyone know of a Siouan cognate for this element?

Randy