Siberian Goats and North American Deer: A Contextual Approach to the Translation of Russian Common Names for Alaskan Mammals

Abstract

The word iaman was used by 19-century Russian speakers in Sitka, Alaska, to refer to locally procured artiodactyls. The term originally meant "domesticated goat" in eastern Siberia and has usually been translated as "wild sheep" or "wild goat" in the American context. Physical evidence in the form of deer bones recovered during archeological excavations dating to the Russian period in Sitka suggested a reexamination of the context in which the word iaman was used by the Russians. Russian, English, Latin and German historical and scientific literature describing the animal were examined for the context in which the word was used. These contexts and 19th-century Russian dictionary definitions equating wild goats with small deer substantiate the hypothesis that the word iaman referred to the Sitka black-tailed deer by Russian speakers living in Sitka.

Key words: Alaskan mammals, Alaskan archeology, historical archeology, ethnohistory, Russian translation, southeast Alaska, faunal analysis, Russian America