PMV 'coyote' [was RE: coyotes]

[R. Rankin]

> > I was interested to hear about -sic^a for 'small'.
Presumably this is
> > also the explanantion of mag^aksic^a 'duck'.

> I suspect so, though I can think ofa folk explanation
or two that would
> ignore the k.  The -ksik- (Da ksic^a) 'small' stem
shows up here and
> there.  Lipkind points out ksik in Winnebago as a
sort of diminutive,...

This is interesting.  I got QU /nikka-$ika/ and, I
think, Kaw /nikka-$iga/ for 'man, person' or in the
term for 'clan' (Dorsey 'gens') several times.  At the
time, I assumed I had somehow missed nasalization or
that it had been omitted accidentally, and that it was
a variant pronunciation of /z^iNk/ga/, the usual
'small' term.  This would now seem not to be so.  Looks
like /sika/, /$ika/ (where's xika?) is a distinct term
and more than just a sporadic sound change.

Bob