"Friend, that which I [would] eat right now is buffalo intestines and
roasted buffalo ribs,"
(2.15)[15]
"Shóͅóͅdé ndásák'adóo
'iyánéłizhiní bichíí 'áshíͅ bitsáíyił
sit'égook'adéhisháͅáͅ'é."
goołndiná'a.
"Friend, that which I [would] eat right now is buffalo intestines and
roasted buffalo ribs,"
he said to him.
[_]
(2.15) Linguistic Notes
'iyánéłizhiní 'buffalo'. A compound of 'iyáné 'cattle'; 'łizhiͅ 'it is black' [3rd person imp. neut. with prefixes
łi-ni- adj.]; and the relative -í. 'iyáné >
'iyáͅ 'he eats' [3rd person imp. with
indef. obj.] plus the archaic relative -é.
It is curious that the Mesc. word for 'buffalo' should have as a base the
word for 'cattle' since it is very likely that the Mesc. knew the buffalo
long before they encountered cattle. It is probable, however, that 'iyáné originally meant 'buffalo' and was made to
include 'cattle' when these animals became important in.Mesc. culture. Then,
when the necessity for distinguishing the two animals arose, this compound
was devised to designate the buffalo, by then the less important animal to
the culture.