Oral ~ Nasal Correspondences

[RLR]

> Yes, and why would one borrow a term for 'black bear'?

They tend to be tabooed in many cultures (including many Indo-European
ones: in Slavic 'bear' is 'honey eater' or 'the brown one'). Miner once
speculated that maybe it was because they walked on their hind legs
sometimes -- or at least stood up on them. He found it tabooed in
Menomini and maybe some other Algonquian. It's borrowed in Comanche from
Osage. It's obviously been replaced with "the black one" in Dhegiha.


> I'm not sure how far south Ursus (Euarctos) americanus (or Ursus
> horribilis (?), either) ranges.  And didn't you (Bob) just mention to me
> in some context that Jane Hill thought UA might well originate much
> further south than previously thought?

Her current hypothesis is that they migrated north, not south.  We know
that the corn and beans (maybe some squashes) come from Mexico too.

Bob