[PW] Re: Inuit for raccoon

[Sarah Ziegenbein]

Does anyone have access to a Gwich'in or Athabascan dictionary?  I'm not
sure that a dictionary of either of those languages would be any more
helpful though?

Sarah Ziegenbein
CALS
Little Rock, AR

-----Original Message-----
From: project-wombat-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org
[mailto:project-wombat-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org] On Behalf Of
John P. Dyson
Sent: Sunday, August 06, 2006 9:49 AM
To: list at project-wombat.org
Subject: [PW] Re: Inuit for raccoon

Quoting Jeffrey Pike <jpike at gpl.org>:

> A patron just got an Alaska Malamute puppy with raccoon eyes and would
like
> to call her the Inuit or Aleut or a related tribe's name for raccoon.
I did
> some Google searches on Inuit, Aleut, and Eskimo +dictionary, but
didn't
> find the word.


As Christine has indicated, the raccoon's natural range may have 
something to do with the lack of a term. Would your patron consider 
[Snow] Goggles as an appropriate name? After all, Eskimos pioneered an 
early mask with narrow eye-slits to use as protection against snow 
glare. Irigruak, I think, but you'll want to verify that.

John Dyson
Spanish and Portuguese
Indiana University


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