The Hiaki phrase for “bee” is mumu yoeria, but just like with ants, there are different kinds of bees that warrant their own names. One such bee is viko. Vikom are normally about the size of houseflies, but otherwise they are very similar to other mumu yoeriam; they have the same coloring, they live in hives, they can sting, and they make honey, which is just as sweet as normal honey. Vikom do not exist here in Tucson, but they do exist in the Hiaki homeland in Sonora. This may be because vikom prefer to make their hives in trees called sita’avaum, which are also not found here. They have been known to make their hives in mesquite trees with lighter-colored bark, though even so, they simply do not exist in this area. When they do make their hives, called toosam, they begin by burrowing under the bark so that the end result looks like a ball sticking out of the tree.

The Hiaki phrase chovepo elesikile means something like “(his) butt is itchy”, however, the phrase is used to communicate a slightly different message. Chove means “butt”, -po specifies the location, and elesikile is “itchy”, so the phrase translates to something like “(He’s) itchy on the rear”, but when someone says chovepo elesikile, what they really mean is that it’s going to rain. This is because, to the Hiaki, the sight of someone scratching their rear end is a sign that it will soon rain. So, if you see someone scratching their rear, all you really need to say is Yukvae!, which means “it’s going to rain”. If somebody who didn’t see what you saw is standing nearby and hears you say Yukvae!, they could ask Haisa empo hu’unea?, which means “how do you know?”. Then, you could simply say Hunu’u chovepo elesikile, which means “that one has an itchy butt”. You could also reply with Hunu’u chovepo au wo’oke, meaning “S/he’s scratching his/her butt”, though either response would convey the same message.

Kiichul
Kiichul is the Hiaki word for “cricket”. Kichulim are well known for chirping loudly through the night, but what you may not know about them is that they eat clothes! If you find little holes are mysteriously appearing in your t-shirts, it could be that kichulim have found their way into your closet. To complain about such a problem, you could say Ume kichulim si haiti taho’ota bwabwa’e, which means “Crickets very annoyingly eat clothing”.

Maachil
Maachil means “scorpion”, one of the meaner creepy crawlies, well known and feared for its sting. If you get stung by maachil, you should take one clove of garlic and chew on it for a while, and then take another one and tie it to the wound. Kovatarao is the Hiaki word for the “short-tailed scorpion” or “mata venado” in Spanish. Kovataraom look quite different from Machilim, but they still have a nasty sting and they move very quickly.

Waka wo’ochi
Waka wo’ochi is a Hiaki phrase meaning “locust”. Waka comes from the word waka’ate or waka’anama, which means “crawling around”, and wo’ochi refers to “hopping”. Some Hiakis will simply call locusts and all other types of grasshoppers wo’ochi.

Eye’ekoe
Eye’ekoe is a Hiaki word meaning “millipede”. During the time of year when saguaro fruits are ripening and falling to the ground (June & July), you’ll always find eye’ekoem crawling around near the saguaros, as they enjoy their fruit just like people do. As frightening as they look, eye’ekoem typically won’t bite you. To describe how eye’ekoem crawl around on the ground, you could say something like Uu eye’ekoe chukui trentavena, which means “the millipede looks like a black train”.

Huva china’i is the Hiaki way to say “stink bug”. Huuva is the word meaning “stink”, and china’i refers to something’s rear end being up in the air. These bugs are described this way because they will raise their anteriors and put their heads toward the ground when preparing to spray you. Normally, huva china’im will leave you alone so long as you do not disturb them. However, if you touch them, step on them, or even accidentally bother them, they’ll let you know. The scent from their spray isn’t quite as bad as a skunk’s, and it’s easier to remove, but it’s still very unpleasant and smells like overly strong, burnt coffee. Skunks are said to enjoy eating huva china’im, which might explain why skunks smell so awful.

In the Hiaki story Uu Wo’i intok uu Huva China’i, wo’i (coyote) finds huva china’i with his rear end up in the air and exclaims that he’s going to eat huva china’i. However, huva china’i says he’s listening to what’s being said underground about how wo’i will be killed for leaving his droppings all over the road, and so he tricks wo’i into leaving him alone.

Choa is the Hiaki word for the cholla plant. Choam will sometimes produce a sticky, sap-like substance that builds up under the plant’s skin and then slowly leaks and drips out of what look like sores after a few weeks. This is called choa voram, and it was once a source of food for the Hiaki. Choa voram is completely clear when it first comes out, but eventually it will turn brown or black from sun exposure, harden, and fall to the ground. The ideal time to collect choa voram is when it’s fresh and clear. You can still use it while it’s brown if you must, but once it turns black it’s inedible. After collecting choa voram, you would dry it and grind it into a rough, grainy flour which would then be cooked in water to yield a porridge-like beverage. This beverage has a fragrance that closely resembles the earthy, refreshing smell of rain in the desert.

However, there is more to choa than just choa voram. For example, the phrase choa taakam refers to cholla buds, which were not typically eaten by the Hiaki, but were eaten by certain animals like desert tortoises and deer if they fell to the ground. Choa wicham are the infamously difficult to remove stickers of the plant, and choa seewam are the plant’s flowers.

Echo is the Hiaki word for the cardon cactus, an enormous cactus that grows in the Baja California Peninsula and in Sonora. The Mayo, who live nearby the Hiaki in Sonora and who speak a closely related language, have a village called Echo hoa or Echo hoa’ara, which means “cardon home”. While this cactus and its parts could be used for all sorts of things, the Hiaki used to use the fruit of echo to make combs, called echo hichikiam. The fruits are all covered in stickers, but in order to grip one like a comb or hair brush you would remove some of them by trimming them off and partially burning them to make the surface more holdable. Echo fruits are also very fragile, so brushing your hair would require more than one to get the job done. If Hiaki women were travelling to another village with the intention of staying overnight for a ceremony or festival, they might consider bringing about ten each, as Hiaki women would usually have very long hair.

To talk about combing hair with echo, you could say

Si’ime echo hichikiamake emo chiken
si’ime  echo                hichikia-make             emo                 chike-n
all        cardon             comb-with                   themselves      comb-past

which means something like “everyone combed themselves with cardon combs”.

Photo credit: Deborah Small, 2009

Unlike in many other languages, there is no single word in Hiaki that translates to “ant” or “ants”. In Hiaki, each different ant species is distinct enough to merit its own name, so if you want to talk about ants in Hiaki, you’ll have to know the right word for the type of ant.

Eeyem – Red ants
These ants are known for their large anteriors and hostile temperament. Whereas some ants will only bite you if you provoke them, eeyem will bite you on sight.

Eesuukim – Sugar ants
These very tiny ants are known for getting into people’s houses and scavenging for food sources like crumbs. They won’t bite you or cause you any trouble, unless you’re troubled by having single-file lines of ants crawling all over your house.

Moochom – Leaf-cutter ants
These black ants do their work at night. They collect leaves and leaf clippings to bring back to their nest, and they sometimes can be a problem for gardeners. If you notice that your plants start to shrivel up for no apparent reason, you may be dealing with moochom. They’ll sometimes attack and eat the roots of plants, and by doing this they can kill an entire tree within a month. Interestingly enough, moochom is an irregular plural, as its singular form is mochomo and not *moocho.

Ho’ovo’em – Red and black ants
These small ants come in two colors: red and black. While they’re not as aggressive as eeye, they’ll still bite you under certain circumstances. They’re known to crawl up people’s feet and legs, so if they make it halfway up your leg and then get stuck or lost, they’ll start to bite. Like eesuukim, ho’ovo’e will sometimes crawl into your house and look for food scraps to carry back to their colony.

While there isn’t a single word that just translates to “ant”, all ants are respected by the Hiaki. Some Hiakis will intentionally leave crumbs on the floor and then sweep them in the direction of the doorway so that ants can crawl in at night and take them back to their homes. Ants are also analogized to the Hiaki and Surem (the ancestors of the Hiaki) because they are very hardworking and are constantly trying to provide for their families, so killing ants is frowned upon. If you’re caught in the act, you might hear someone yell “don’t kill them, they’re Hiakis!”.

The Hiaki phrase wah kuu’u refers to cultivated agave. Wah kuu’u is a plant that is used extensively by many cultures throughout the Southwest for many different purposes, so there are lots of words related to the parts of wah kuu’u and its uses that are worth discussing. Here are some examples:

Kuu’u vi’am is the ridge down the middle of an agave heart, though the word vi’am usually only refers to the nape of the neck.

The word sana’im normally just means “ribs”, but when discussing agave, sana’im refers to the ribs that come off of kuu’u vi’am.

Ma’ikoam refers to the edible, outer parts of a roasted kuu’u vi’am. These parts are left over from the cutting and harvesting of wah kuu’u, and after roasting, you can just pull them off the heart and eat them.

The many different uses of wah kuu’u include rope making. From the leaves of wah kuu’u, you can make a thick type of rope called wikia, which is used for things like lassoing animals. The middle parts of the plant can be used to make Ihkle which is a thin, string-like rope.

When harvesting wah kuu’u, the parts of the plant that are harvested are put into large cloth sacks. Eventually, when these sacks become full, they need to be sewed shut so that their contents don’t all fall out. This can be done with a hi’ikiam. Hi’ikiam literally translates to “needle”, but in the context of agave harvesting, it means a large, flat metal needle used for this specific purpose.

The Hiaki word tekuuku refers to a tornado or dust devil. In Hiaki lore, the occurrence of a destructive tornado is more than just a coincidence; they happen as a result of serious wrongdoings such as child abuse and other major crimes. There are many stories among the Hiaki about the homes of people rumored to abuse their own family being destroyed in a tornado while everyone else’s homes are left completely untouched. This is also known to happen to buildings that are a haven for prostitution and substance abuse. Because tornadoes are so common in areas like Texas, some Hiakis speak of Texas as a place where sin is everywhere and people have forgotten God. If you wanted to talk about tornadoes and where they hit, you could use a sentence like.

Ume bweere tekuukum wam vicha Tehauvicha hivayu kom hohote ta imi’i kaa tua kom hohote.

“Tornadoes occur in Texas a lot but they don’t really happen here.”

Dust devils, while usually not as destructive, are still considered very dangerous. If you see one you should avoid going anywhere near it, especially its center. There are elements within it that can enter your body and cause all sorts of problems.