Bean/Bear/Circumlocution

[Lance Foster]

> I guess the derivation for bean from the southwest language groups makes
> sense based in the archaeological antecedents of bean agriculture.
> Shouldn't we also expect this for corn and squash?

The bear derivation seems a bit farfetched.. maybe some terms for Bear are
borrowed (the hunch- ones) but Bear is holoarctic, and the Cult of Bear
goes back at least to Neanderthal times in Europe.

I would think that any term for some words like 'water', 'sun', 'man' and
'bear' would be very old. If there is good evidence of borrowing, something
very odd happened historically (or PREhistorically).

Speaking of which, Bear is a classic candidate for circumlocution, due to
its spiritual significance. As in OP, wathabe, 'something black' for bear.

IO has some good examples of circumlocution for Bear and other game animals
preserved in old stories.. 'The Sister and the Brother' was a good example
of a way that was used to pass on such circumlocution, and IO also used
"something black" for Bear.




--
Lance Michael Foster
Email: ioway at earthlink.net
http://home.earthlink.net/~ioway
-------------------------
Native Nations Press,
1542 Calle Angelina, Santa Fe, NM 87501
Phone: 505-438-2945
info at nativenations.com
-------------------------
NativeNations.Com - Native Nations Press (http://www.nativenations.com)
Baxoje Ukich'e: The Ioway Nation (http://www.ioway.org)