Iskousogos

[Koontz John E]

On Sat, 14 Feb 2004, Michael Mccafferty wrote:
> Unfortunately, the meaning of <8AB8SKIG8 was lost since Marquette died
> before he could explain it. But when the place name made it back
> to Quebec/France/civilization, it was tranliterated, incorrectly, to
> "Ouabouskigou". Historians, at least beginning with Thwaites have thought
> that Marquette's place name is related to Miami-Illinois /waapaah$iiki/,
> the name of the Wabash River.

And the crosswinds whip up again!

Without in any way wishing to quibble with your etymologies, I would be
grateful to know why 8ab8skig8 would be incorrectly transliterated
ouabouskigou.  I thought that 8 was interchangeable with ou?  I thought
that the only issue was knowing when it represented w and when u(:)?

Puzzled in Sioux City (metaphorically speaking).