Virtues-wolves-coyotes

[rwd0002 at unt.edu]

> >
> > > Does anyone know the derivation of the Lakota word for coyote
> > > yas^le or mayas^leca.  It is very 'opaque' as they say, not like most
> > > Lakota animal terms which often have a derived meaning as in
> > > s^ungmanitu or wamakhas^kaN. I think I once heard that it was an
> > > Athabaskan/Dine borrowing.
>
Greetings to all Siouanists from Madras, India:

Here are my two rupees on the Athabaskan connection:  There is in Navajo,
Western Apache, Chiricahua, and Mescalero, at least, a stem ma', mba' or ba'
referring to foxes and coyotes. This is similar to the ma- of mayasleca; but I
think it is coincidence.  Why would the Lakhota word borrow an Athabaskan term
and compound that with something that, as JEK pointed out, looks very Dakotan?
Not likely.  Note also that the ma', mba', ba' thing occurs in other languages
of the Southwest and is probably onomatopoeic, imitating the sound a coyote
makes.

Willem de Reuse