Sky and cloud

[BARudes at aol.com]

Catawba has distinct words for sky and cloud.  The word for cloud is namuN?
(with accent on the /uN/) and the word for sky is wa:pit (with accent on the
/a:/).  However, the English glosses do not fit well.  The word for cloud is
often used for heaven and the lower levels of the sky in narratives, and the
word for sky occurs in compounds for celestial objects (e.g., wa:pidnu  star
[with accent on the /i/).  The distinction seems to be one of upper versus
lower sky, or bounded versus unbounded sky.  The Catawba word for sky may
show metathesis, since the Woccon word for sun is Wittapare (i.e.
/wita:pire:/  it is the sky).

Blair
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