kuku'i ghost

[Rankin, Robert L]

The place to go for the best etymologizing would be the "Diccionario Critico Etimologico" of Spanish.  If I think of it, I'll try to check next time I'm in the biblioteca.  I guess I should check and see if they've put it on-line.
 
Bob

________________________________

From: owner-siouan at lists.colorado.edu on behalf of rwd0002 at unt.edu
Sent: Sat 9/3/2005 11:44 AM
To: siouan at lists.colorado.edu
Subject: Re: kuku'i ghost



Quoting "Alan H. Hartley" <ahartley at d.umn.edu>:

> Mark-Awakuni Swetland wrote:
>
> > Hmm... the image of a firefly flickering in the night seems to suggest a
> > possible connection to the image of a ghost, enit?
>
> Yup--pretty neat!
>


In Ruben Cobos, A dictionary of New Mexico and Southern Colorado Spanish
(2003), I find:  cucuy m. [fr. Mex. Sp. coco, bogeyman, and !Uy!, an expression
denoting fright] bogeyman.

The etymology seems fanciful to me.

Willem