From: "Kevin McGuire" <kmcguire@itw.com>
Subject: (urth) Re: Digest urth.v004.n015
Date: Tue, 2 Sep 1997 18:47:43 +0000


[Posted from URTH, a mailing list about Gene Wolfe's New Sun and other works]

> Thanks for your offer to look up names, but I don't think the Abenakis, a
> Maine Algonkian tribe, will be much use. I don't think the names are
> Algonkian any more. Or Iroquois. Or Sioux. Sigh. Give it a whirl, though.
> Moose (or elk)=Nashwonk;
> deer (or antelope)=Lenizee; wolf=Wiggikku; pig (boar)=Panagiku; lion=Ketin.

Well, no dice.  I checked Vol. 1 of the Western Abenaki Dictionary, 
by Dr. Gordon Day, and given your caveat about the spellings looked 
as widely as I could, but nothing seemed to correspond - some of the 
combinations don't even seem to be sounds that the Western Abenaki 
used with any frequency.  The closest match was wigkannid "the one 
who likes to travel" and perhaps wigkikan "liking to plant, sow" - 
but I think you would be hard pressed to make these work.

Cheers,