adhekato

Ye'kwana

Variant orthographies

ALIV	adhekato
Brazilian standard	adheekato
New Tribes	adheecato
historical ad hoc	adekato

Alternative forms

• adekato

Etymology

The second element is ökato (“shadow, reflection, spirit, double”), with front-grade ablaut implying that it is preceded by either a first- or second-person prefix or a noun. The first element has been variously identified as either the allomorph ay- of the second-person prefix ö-, in which case the meaning would be ‘your spirit/double’; or else as related to the root found in adha'komo (“mortals, ephemeral creatures”) and adhe (“ephemeral”), in which case the meaning would be ‘ephemeral spirit/double’. In either case the predicted Caura River dialect form would have y instead of dh.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [aðeːkato]

Noun

adhekato (Cunucunuma River dialect)

1. dream (seen as the journey of the önu ekato (“eye spirit”) outside the body)
2. the önu ekato (“eye spirit”) itself while dreaming

References

• de Civrieux, Marc (1980) “adekato”, in  David M. Guss, transl., Watunna: An Orinoco Creation Cycle, San Francisco: North Point Press, →ISBN, page 175: “adekato: The akato’s journey, which is recounted to its body in the form of dreams. The adekato is considered a dangerous journey, for whenever it leaves the body, the akato is in constant peril of being captured by Odosha.”
• Guss, David M. (1989) To Weave and Sing: Art, Symbol, and Narrative in the South American Rain Forest, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, →ISBN, pages 50, 55, 56, 229: “adekato”