Saturday, May 19, 2007

A Rather Gruff Drawing Portraying a Hairy Beast

In many cultures, the bear was looked upon with such reverence that members of the culture were not allowed to speak the word for "bear ". Instead, they referred to the animal with varied and creative euphamisms. The following is a list of some names used (I've italicized my faves):

Angry One (Cree)
The Animal (Michikaman)
Apple of the Forest (Finn)
Big Feet (nA)
Big Great Food (Cree)
Big Hairy One (Blackfoot)
Black Beast (nA)
Black Food (Cree)
Black Place (Koyukon)
Bobtail (nA)
Broadfoot (Estonian)
Dark Thing (Koyukon)
Divine One Who Rules the Mountains (Ainu)
Dweller in the Wilds (Ostyak)
Famous Lightfoot (Finn)
Fine Young Chief (Navajo)
Food of the Fire (Cree)
Forest Apple (Finn)
Four-legged Man (Ostyak)
Fur Man (Ostyak) ...........surely this must be a comic book hero of some sort!
Golden Feet (nA)
Golden Friend (Finn)
Golden King (nA)
Gold Friend of Fen and Forest (Ural Altaic)
Good-tempered Beast (Cree)
Great Man (Siberian)
He Who Lives in the Den (Navajo)
Holy Animal (Lapp)
Honey Paw (Tungus)
Illustrious Pride (Finn)
Little Mother of Honey (Finn)
Lord of the Taiga (Tungus)
Master of the Forest (Lapp)
Old Man of the Mountain (Lapp)
One Who Prowls at Night (nA)
Owner of the Earth (Siberian)
Pride of the Woodlands (Finn)
Reared in the Mountains (Navajo)
Sacred Man (Lapp)
Sacred Virgin (Lapp)
Snub-nose (Finn)
Step-widener (Lapp)
Sticky-Mouth (nA)
The Strong One (Taglish)
That Which Went Away (Koyukon)
The Thing (Koyukon)
Unmentionable One (Blackfoot) ...I think this dates back to "bear"s original name. Voldemort.
Venerable One (Vogul)
Wide-way (Lapp)
Winter-sleeper (Lapp)
Wise Man (Lapp)
Woodmaste (Samoyed)
Wooly One (Lapp)
Worthy Old Man (Ural Altaic)

***Note to self:
[ ] Buy Window Crayons when I get the chance
[ ] Check the previous box after buying Window Crayons