Underwater Cat

[David Costa]

> On Mon, 17 Jun 2002, Michael Mccafferty wrote:

>> There are cosmogonic parallels, as the Underwater Cat and the snake are
>> constellated within the same archetypal field--long things. Long tails,
>> long bodies.
>
> Aren't there also cases of derivatives of manitou being used both of
> sacred things, or mysterious creatures, including perhaps, watermonsters,
> and God?

Well... *AHEM*... speaking just of Miami-Illinois, the word /manetoowa/ is
also used for the aquatic Seven Headed Monster in a Peoria trickster story
elicited 100 years ago. In late M-I, the word seems not to have been used
for 'god' much anymore, tho speakers seemed to realize that overtones like
that still clung to the word. Some speakers said the word meant 'devil'. The
truly unexpected thing is that the obviously related M-I word /manetwa/
means 'snow (when falling)', a quirk not shared by any sister langauges. It
has to be related since /manetwa/ is actually the modern M-I form one would
*expect* by sound law from PA */maneto:wa/, *not* /manetoowa/. The long /oo/
isn't supposed to be preserved in modern M-I.

In Southern New England Algonquian, the reflexes of */maneto:wa/ usually end
up being the ordinary words for 'god'.

Apologies if I already posted all this info on this list 6 or 8 years ago.
:-)

Dave