Talk:Siberian Yupik
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[edit] Orca or kingfisher?
Many sources mention, that mɨˈɕuŋɨˈɕak (IPA, in cyrillic: мысюн'ысяк), which is translated to Russian as касатка, is a revered animal, just like wolf. In fact, it is the same as wolf: it is a hunter man, translating himself into касатка in summer, and in winter back into the guise of wolf. Neither касатка nor wolf is hunted by Siberian Yupik, because it is thought to help people in hunting.
As the disambiguition page for касатка shows, it is the name both for
- orca
- and some kinds of see birds (Anas Falcata)
Which meaning is relevant here? A problem is that materials from the same author can give rise to both interpretations:
- A translated material [1] translates it as kingfisher, another bird. But this is a material through (multiple ?) translations: Меновщиков, the author of the article is Russian, and the book (collection of articlea of various authors) which contains also this article was published in Hungarian, German and English).
- The Sirenik Eskimo language book [2] of the same Russian author (published in Russian, untranslated) translates the animal as orca definitely.
All other sources relavent in this topic suggest the orca interpretation (see a detailed collection on my profile: User:Physis#Orca vs bird debate).
My conjecture is that the source translating касатка as kingfisher [1] is a mistranslation. The document may be produced throgh muktiple translations from a Russian-language original article of Меновщиков, and the mistake may be caused by the mentioned ambiguitity of word касатка. My conjecture is supported also by the fact that even the context of this material is in contradiction with the translation: it describes “kingfisher” as “causing terror to all coastal inhabitants”, which is hard to imagine from a sea bird.
Another Russian source (not from the same author) mentions касатка as helping people in the sea hunt by driving the wallrusses to the hand of the people. It is hard to imagine from a sea bird, but it is not unimaginable from orcas, because they have been observed to cooperate with people in hunting.
Thus, I change my earlier contribution, and mention orca (and not kingfisher) as a wolf-equivalent revered helping friend of man in the hunt.
If anybody would object, then reverting this choice can be done by re-inserting the earlier version, which I copied to User:Physis#User:Physis#Concepts about the animal world around them.
Physis 15:35, 4 November 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b Menovščikov, G.A.: Popular Conceptions, Religious Beliefs and Rites of the Asiatic Eskimoes. Published in Diószegi, Vilmos et Hoppál, Mihály: Folk Beliefs and Shamanistic Traditions in Siberia. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 1968, 1996.
- ^ Menovshchikov, G.A.: Language of Sirenik Eskimos. Phonetics, morphology, texts and vocabulary. Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow • Leningrad, 1964. Original data: Г.А. Меновщиков: Язык сиреникских эскимосов. Фонетика, очерк морфологии, тексты и словарь. Академия Наук СССР. Институт языкознания. Москва • Ленинград, 1964
