More on Winnebago Moon (was Re: [Fwd: poison ivy])

[Koontz John E]

On Wed, 21 Feb 2001, Constantine Xmelnitski wrote:

> Here's what Buechel's Lakota-English dictionary search
> on "ivy" yields:
> wikhos^ka thaphez^uta, n. The small western poison
> ivy. Rhus rydbergii.The sumac family. When touched it
> causes irritations, hence the name. It is not a
> medicine plant. Cf. wikhos^ka.
> wikhos^ka, n. A venereal disease of women.

Remember Winnebago wiira guNs^ge, earlier wiira gos^ge, 'moon'?  And
remember that in some cases aspirated stops in Dakotan or Dhegiha
correspond to voiced stops in Winnebago?  Dakotan khos^ka could regularly
match Wi gos^ge.  Perhaps wiira gos^ge could be interpreted 'pocked or
blistered luminary'?  Note that this meaning is perhaps implied for
Dakotan khos^ka, but I'm not positive of that.  I also don't know if such
a form as gos^ka is attested in this sense in Winnebago, or if there is a
widespread set of similar or calqued forms for venereal diseases.  A
cognate-like pairing could exist in Dakotan and Winnebago either by
inheritence, in which case the correspondence is potentially regular, or
by borrowing, in which case the adaptation might have gone in either
direction.