Ethnic Terms and Trickster terms.

[R. Rankin]

> It seems to me that there are a couple of near
homophones for gaghe, which
> actually are gaxe - something like 'branch (of a
stream)'

That's /gaxa'/ 'creek, branch'.  The accent and final V
are different.  I don't know about length.

> and/or 'comb',

For the Kaws, that's /gaphe'/, I think.

> maybe?  Even if I have the glosses and stem forms
correct, these don't
> seem to be a lot of help ... 'maker' seems to me to
make more sense than
> 'comber' or 'brancher'.

I think you hit it on the head when you pointed out
that it has /x/ instead of /gh/.  So right now, all we
have is folk etymologies and linguists' folk
etymologies.  :-)

BTW, in the discussion of the trickster and spider
names, the Osage and Kaw term, /cci/e xop/be/ probably
doesn't have anything to do with  /xop/be/ 'sacred,
holy'.  It is much more likely that it relates to the
verb /ixop/be/ 'to tell lies, deceive'.  The /cc(e)/
part remains a mystery to me, as I don't buy into
'lying buffalo cow'.

Bob