sky, turtle

[Richard L. Dieterle]

Responding to Koontz John E <John.Koontz at colorado.edu>:
>
> On Fri, 16 Feb 2001, Richard L. Dieterle wrote:
>
> > The connection between WI ke, "sky," and ke, "turtle," is interesting.
> > It could be that WI ke meant "the vaulted one."
>
> I'm inclined to suspect that kee means 'turtle', and that if it is the
> 'turtle' word that appears in this alternate word for 'sky' then in that
> context it means 'the (sky) turtle'.

I know that some tribes of the Great Lakes region refer to the land mass (known
to them) surrounded by the ocean-sea as "Turtle Island."  This makes the land a
turtle shell rising out of the surrounding waters.  However, I haven't run
across the idea that the sky is a turtle shell.  Perhaps someone else has.