English

Arapaho

Related Words

tarantula: bíísnih'óó3oo = ‘hairy spider’

spider web: [ni]hoo3oonoyoot = ‘spider's trap’

weave a web: noonóónoyootééyei'it = 'it is weaving a trap'

Spiders and the Arapaho

The word nih’oo3oo refers to the ancient Arapaho trickster figure as well as to spiders. It has also been extended to white people as well. Some people claim that whites are called nih’oo3oo because like the spider, the weave webs (fences, especially of barb wire) across the landscape.

The word biisnih’oo3oo is also used jokingly sometimes to refer to white people (‘hairy white man’). The same word is used for ‘monkey’ as well.

According to Alfred Kroeber, tarantula bites were treated by crushing the tarantula and mixing it with a certain medicinal root.

A Tarantula Spider (photo taken in California)