In the 1971 cartoon “The Cat in the Hat,” the cat sings about what his name is in various languages. When he comes to ‘Eskimo,’ he says he’s a *‘gwonka in a bonkequank.’
So what do those words actually mean? I’m guessing the Eskimos didn’t see much of domestic cats, so it’s a word for ‘cat,’ it’s probably a lynx or something wild. ‘Bonkequank’ could mean something like ‘head covering.’
Anyone??? Could be these words were just made up for the song, and in 1971, it would have been practically impossible to check them out.
Copied from a website, spelling could be way off.
I would guess it is made up, unfortunately possibly similar to “ching chang chong” pejorative vocalizations when emulating Chinese speakers. As Eskimo includes Aleut, Yupik and Inuit people with 11 languages in the Eskimo–Aleut language family the use if the term probably indicates a native speaker wasn’t consulted.
Yupik and Inuit do not seem to have anything similar for headware.
nacarpig’ar = men’s dance hat
palagg’aayar = fur hat
I would assume that since the Cat in the Hat wore a tophat, the ‘men’s dance hat’ might be the closest translation. (NB: A ‘men’s dance hat’ may be a hat specific to tribal dances. It doesn’t say so, but it came to my mind.)
The Inuktitut Lexicon lists a few different Inuit words for lynx from different languages, none of which is anything like “gwonka”. Of course, this doesn’t mean that there isn’t some other Eskimo/Aleut language out there for which the word is “gwonka”.
There is a “less reliable” translation here, but this is not a academic source.
“Cat” seems to be a loan word of “kat” in the sources I can find.
This video for Yup’ik
And one in Inuktitut
which will show how different the actual song is.
This page gets semi close, but the possessive rules would take some time. But note how hat or “nasara” is in the phrase but not in the song. The “gwonka” probably is meant to start with a q and relate to possession.
There is one picture of a nacarpiaq/nacarpig’ar in rat avatar’s link, in which it does not resemble a top hat. But that is the essential problem with translating a word by another word without any context. I’m sure anyone who speaks an Eskimo language could immediately tell you whether a European top hat is classified as a nacarpiaq, a nasqurrun, or simply a nacaq or nacar.
Inuit speakers in Greenland and Inuttut speakers in Labrador have the borrowings pussik and posik for English “cat”. Apparently comes from “pussy(cat)”, though I am unsure if the -k ending is a phonotactic obligation or else a case ending.
In the “University of Alaska Yup’ik Eskimo Dictionary” under “cat” we have: kuskaq, kuuskaq, puss’iq, puussiq, IE simply the Russian or English word. “Lynx” is niutuayaq (from Inupiaq niutuuyiq (ultimately from Athabascan).
There are loads of different hats described, as explained above, including all’ugaq (hat), nacaq (hat; parka hood; cap), uqerrsuun (hat), uqurrsuk; as well as ugtarcurcuun (bentwood hunting hat), cillapak, esslaapaq, selapaq (broad-brimmed hat), cillapak (cowboy hat), nacarrluk (dance hat), nacarpiaq (fancy hat), paallaguaq (fur hat), malagg’aayaq, palagg’aayaq, qacap’aguaq (fur hat with ear flaps), caguyaq, ciayaq (semi-conical bentwood hat), maqissuun (hat worn in sweatbath), etc.
