kuku'i ghost

[Alan H. Hartley]

Mark-Awakuni Swetland wrote:

> An Omaha 
> student who recently transfered into UNL from the Omaha reservation 
> offered the term "kuku'i" as ghost. He reported the term used by his 
> Omaha grandmother residing in Sioux City, Iowa.
>  
> One of our speakers suggested it was a Mexican Spanish term, as her 
> Mexican Mother-in-Law uses the term commonly in south Texas... but had 
> not heard it used in the Omaha community.
>  
> Any thoughts?

Doesn't sound like (even dialect) Spanish. The standard Sp. for 
mother-in-law is suegra.

Alan