According to Mashém and the clanmother known as Juana Maria, the proper name of the tribe known as Seri is _Kunkáak_ (the first vowel obscure and the succeeding consonant nasalized; perhaps _Kⁿ-káak_ or _Kᵐ-káak_ would better express the sound). According to Kolusio, as rendered by M Pinart, the Seri term for people or nation is _kom-kak_, while the Seri people are designated specifically as _Kmike_, this designation being practically equivalent phonetically (and doubtless semantically) to Sr Tenochio’s general term for women, _kamykij_. Mashém was unable or unwilling to give the precise signification of the tribal appellation used by him, merely indicating Juana Maria and one or two other elderwomen squatting near as examples or types; but comparison of the elements of the term with those used in other vocables affords a fairly clear inkling as to its meaning. The syllable _kun_ (or _kⁿ_, _kon_, _kom_, etc.) certainly connotes age and woman, and apparently connotes also life or living (_kun-kaīe_=old woman, McGee; _i-kom_=a wife, _ekam_=alive, Bartlett; _hikkam_=a wife, _kmam-kikamman_=a married woman, _Yak-kom_=Yaqui tribe, Pinart; _kon-kabre_=an old woman, Tenochio), the forms being distinct from the word for woman (_kmamm_, McGee; _ék-e-mam_, Bartlett; _kmam_, Pinart and Tenochio) and widely different from the term for man (_kŭ-tŭmm_, McGee; _ék-e-tam_, Bartlett; _ktam_, Pinart; _tam_, Tenochio) with its several combining variants; there are also indications in numerous vocables that it connotes person or personality. On the whole, the syllable appears to be an ill-formulated or uncrystallized expression, denoting at once and associatively (1) the state of living or being, (2) personality, (3) age or ancientness (or both), and (4) either femininity or maternity (much more probably the latter), this inchoate condition of the term being quite in accord with other characters of the Seri tongue, and frequently paralleled among other primitive languages. The syllable _kaak_ (or _kak_, and probably _kok_, _koj_, _kolch_, etc.) would seem to be a still more vague and colloidal term, despite the fact that it is used separately to designate the fire-drill. There are fairly decisive indications that it is composite, the initial portion denoting place and the final portion perhaps more vaguely connoting class or kind with an implication of excellence, both elements appearing in various vocables (too numerous to quote). On the whole, _kaak_ would appear to be a typical egocentric or ethnocentric term, designating and dignifying Person, Place, Time, and Mode, after the manner characteristic of primitive thought;[226] so that it may perhaps be translated “Our-Great-(or Strong-)Kind-Now-Here”. The combination of the two syllables affords a characteristically colloidal connotation of concepts, common enough in primitive use, but not expressible by any single term of modern language; in a descriptive way the complete term might be interpreted as “Our-Living-Ancient-Strongkind-Elderwomen-Now-Here,” while with the utmost elision the interpretation could hardly be reduced beyond “Our-Great-Motherfolk-Here” without fatal loss of original signification. It should be noted that the designation is made to cover the animals of Seriland (at least the zoic tutelaries of the tribe) and fire as well as the human folk.