English

wolf


Arapaho

hóóxei

Technical Information

Canis lupus

 

Wolves and the Arapaho

Ferdinand Hayden’s 1863 report gives an additional term for wolf: <a-wa-ta-tas>. This may be something like heebet-??? meaning ‘big ???’.

The wolf plays a much less important role in Arapaho culture and mythology than the coyote. James Peak and the area south of it in Colorado was named hooxei hooxutee’ (‘wolf’s canine). Signal Peak near Rocky Mountain National Park was named hooxoen-otoyoo’ (‘wolf mountain’).