Virtues-wolves-coyotes

[Michael Mccafferty]

en francais, 'wolverine' is " carcajou," which seems of indigenous
origin.


On Tue, 16 Jul 2002, Koontz John E wrote:

> On Tue, 16 Jul 2002 bi1 at soas.ac.uk wrote:
> > While we are on animals I noticed in the Bushotter texts a word
> > mnaja (ie mnaz^a) as 'wolverine'.  Being English I don't know what
> > a wolverine is except remembering it as an epithet for a Michigan
> > Regiment in the Civil war led by General Custer played by Errol
> > Flynn.
>
> I thought Custer was in the regular army in the cavalry?  Michigan is
> called the Wolverine State, I think.
>
> > I have also seen it in Riggs Dakota Dictionary as 'lion, wild cat'.
>
> A wolverine is to a marten as a tank is to a sportscar, though I'm not
> sure whether this conception would meet with the approval of the
> taxonomists. In northern North America there's an intermediate of sorts, a
> large, darkish martern called variously a fisher or a pekan, or sometimes,
> a cat.  I think that the French in particular called things like raccoons,
> fishers, and skunks chats.  Maybe wolverines, too.  This would seem to
> underlie the 'wild cat' conception in Riggs.  There's a Siouan name in
> Lewis & Clark that they render 'Black Cat' that I think might refer to a
> skunk or a fisher or maybe a wolverine - perhaps one of the Missouria
> names?  I've forgotten the actual name, too, awkwardly enough.
>
>
>
>


Michael McCafferty
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