Virtues-wolves-coyotes

[rlarson at unlnotes01.unl.edu]

John wrote:
>  Nikka refers to 'people' and
> occurs in compounds, like these and nikkagahi 'chief'.  Nia's^iNga is an
> puzzling variant of ni'kkas^iNga that I think I've mentioned before.

I wonder if dropping the /kk/ in this word isn't just
a rapid-speech slurring that is becoming a secondary
standard because four full syllables is too long for
a word that just means 'person' or 'people'.  I've
heard the word reduced even further in a compound by
one of our speakers, Emmaline Sanchez, to what sounds
like /ne'os^iN/ (the 'o' being perhaps more of a shwa):

ne'os^iN hiN's^kube = 'thick-haired person' = Bigfoot

Tangentially, Fletcher & LaFlesche list /s^e hiN's^kube/
as 'peach', where /s^e/ means 'apple' in Omaha.  So I
guess /hiN's^kube/ (/hiN/ = 'hair'; /s^kube/ = 'deep' or
'thick') could be glossed as the standard Omaha word for
'hairy'.

Does anyone have words for Bigfoot in other languages?

Rory