Terms for "white man"

[Rory M Larson]

>> I would agree with him and John that it is a biased folk etymology that
>> post-dates the original meaning.  Assuming that it is a jibe against
>> whites for taking the Indians' land and resources, ...
>
> I'd qualify this by saying that I don't know that bias or prejudice is
> really the issue here.  Names are sometimes accidentally or even
> deliberately offensive.  The purpose of etymological analysis is to
> determine meaning and perhaps to learn from it, not to rectify it, though
> I don't meant to accuse Rory of suggesting the latter.  In any event, I'm
> not offended by fat-thief, which has a certain historical accuracy.  I'm
> merely unconvinced.
>
> [...]

John's points are well taken.  I shouldn't have assumed this
etymology necessarily reflected bias, or that he supposed that
it did.  If the original construction became unclear to later
generations, then was^iN'-ic^hu', "takes-the-fat", may just
have seemed to be the only possible interpretation.

Rory