[168.] The word Dagwanoenyent, correctly written Dagwanoʼĕñʹiĕn, is the name of the Cyclone as a personified thing. The name seems to refer to the habit of cyclones to hurl things against the heads of people. The term means apparently, “What habitually hits or knocks our heads.”
[169.] This term “Niagwaihe” is evidently an error for the full form “Ganiagwaihegowa.” See Note [153]. [[801]]
[170.] The word Djainosgowa, correctly written Djaiʹnosgōwā, is the name of a more or less fanciful creature. It probably received its characteristics from hearsay reports of the alligator which were transferred to the fence lizard, or swift. The native interpreters usually translate the word by the words “blue lizard.” In story and legend it is a most ferocious antagonist, because of its reputed invulnerability. The final two syllables, gōwā, signify “large, great,” while the remainder of the word means, “lizard,” so that literally the combination signifies, “The Great Lizard,” and in legend, “The Monstrous Lizard.”
[171.] The reference here to the power of “becoming alive again” very probably rests on the hibernating habits of reptiles, shedding their skins, indicating change of bodies.
[172.] The word Hanondon, correctly written Hanonʹdoⁿ, is the ordinary Seneca name for the water snake, probably the Tropidonotus sipedon.
[173.] The word Hawiqson(t), correctly written Hawiqʹson, is the common Seneca and Iroquoian name of the milk snake, Ophibolus doliatus.
[174.] The word Gasaisdowanen, correctly written Gasʻhaisʹdowănĕⁿ, is the name of a large serpent in Iroquoian mythic lore. The name signifies, “It-serpent great (is),” or “The Great Serpent.”
[175.] Diagoisiowanens, correctly written Diagoiʻcioʹwănĕⁿs, is a descriptive epithet applied as an appellative to the meadow lark, signifying, “Her-leggings-large (are),” or “She whose leggings (are) large.”
[176.] Hononeowanen, correctly written Honoⁿʼeʹowanĕⁿ, is the name of a species of snake, probably the copperhead, and signifies, “His-head-large (is),” or popularly, “Big Head.”
[177.] One of the dominant notes of these stories is that when one of the great sorcerers, mentioned so often in them, is cornered, stress of circumstances force them to resume their true natures; so Doonongaes must do here.