önu ekato

Ye'kwana

FWOTD – 28 July 2022

Variant orthographies

ALIV	önu ekato
Brazilian standard	änu ekaato
New Tribes	änu ecaato

Etymology

From önu (“eye”) +‎ ekato (front-grade possessed form of ökato (“shadow, reflection, spirit, double”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ənu ekaːto]

Noun

önu ekato (obligatorily possessed; possessed önudu ekato or enudu ekato)

1. reflection seen when looking into an eye

   Synonym: önu akano ökato

2. one of the several doubles or spirits (ökato) possessed by each person, namely the one said to reside in the eye, to cause dreams by its nightly travels, to be benevolent, and, along with the do'ta, to animate a human being and return to the sky at death

   Synonyms: önu akano ökato, sejje

   Hyponym: adhekato

Usage notes

• This term is usually found with a second-person possessor, as ayenudu ekato (Caura River) or adenudu ekato (Cunucunuma River).

References

• 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, page 50: “ayenudu akano akato”
• Gongora, Majoí Fávero (2017) Ääma ashichaato: replicações, transformações, pessoas e cantos entre os Ye’kwana do rio Auaris‎^[1], corrected edition, São Paulo: Universidade de São Paulo, pages 86–88, 135, 141, 149, 237, 239, 249, 324, 382: “ayenudu ekaato […] ayenudu äkaato”
• Lauer, Matthew Taylor (2005) Fertility in Amazonia: Indigenous Concepts of the Human Reproductive Process Among the Ye’kwana of Southern Venezuela‎^[2], Santa Barbara: University of California, pages 206–207: “ayenudu äcato”