Talk:Chiska

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Some have identified the Chiska as Shawnee, perhaps of the Kishkapo (modern Kishpoko) division. The two syllables -kapo- and -poko- (and alternants) are switched in many forms of the name Kishkopo. The meaning of the name is not known to Shawnee for the past two hundred years, though one of my Shawnee consultants gave a folk etymology of Popcorn Man for Kishpokotha, based on Kish- 'hot' plus -poo-poo- 'popping sound' (as she said). -- Noel Schutz