More Spiders, Tricksters, and Whiteman

[Koontz John E]

Spider, Trickster and whiteman in Crow, Hidatsa, and Manda, as far as I
can determine them at present.

        spider          Trickster          whiteman

Cr      awa'kooxe       Isa'ahkawuattee    baaishtashi'ile 'Causasian'
                        'Old Man Coyote'   ishbi'tchiihachkite 'Frenchman'

Lowie gives ba:ictsi'n 'white man' (adapting his notation to ASCII) (c =
s^).  He gives i:sahkupe' 'trickster'. isahkupe: 'tricky', which seems to
be the first element in 'Old Man Coyote' here, or a superset of it.  The
first part of 'tciskter' might match Lowie's isa:'ka, which seems to be a
term for 'mother or father; parent'.  Bu'attee is 'coyote', which is the
second element here (wuattee in context), so the whole is something like
'tricky coyote'.

Hi     ???              ???                was^i' [mas^i']

Mitapa is 'tricky'.  Itaka is 'old man' (or 'elder'?).  Matthews mentions
itakatetas^ 'Old Man Immortal' as a deity < ita'ka 'old man' + te 'die' +
ta NEG + s^ DEF.  The itaka might match Cr isa:'ka (isaahka?).  The
'whiteman' term is said to have originally applied to the French and
Canadians who are now mas^i'kahti 'true whites'.

Ma     waN'xtiriNka     ???                waNs^i'
       maN'xtiniNka                        maNs^i'
       'little rabbit'

I think 'Trickster' = 'Whiteman', but this isn't stated in Hollow.
A couple of interesting derivatives of 'whiteman' in that context:

waNs^i' xopiriN 'doctor' (sacred whiteman)
waNs^i' oxka 'clown' (foolish whiteman)

Of course, these could refer exclusively to 'medical doctor' and 'circus
clown', but the terms 'doctor' and 'clown' have traditional uses in
connection with describing Plains culture - 'traditional doctor, magician'
and 'clown' (in dances and ritual) that might be associated with
Trickster.

Note also waNs^i psi 'African American' (black whiteman)

John E. Koontz
http://spot.colorado.edu/~koontz