One group of the furry critters is tall and technologically advanced, while the other is smaller and more primitive. Did George Lucas state whether or not the Ewoks name is simply and conveniently Wookiees with the syllables reversed?
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2But Wookie backwards would be Eikoow - even dropping letters to get Ekow, they're in the wrong order...– IzkataJun 3, 2013 at 0:39
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@Izkata Backwards sounded better than sideways... ;P– Major StackingsJun 3, 2013 at 1:01
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@MajorStackings: "Wookie" with the syllables reversed would be "kiewoo", I think?– ShreevatsaRJun 3, 2013 at 5:24
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@ShreevatsaR Oops! I think you are right. The k-sound probably does belong to the second syllable in "Wookiee". Aargh! Unfortunately, (approximate) phonetic anagram does not communicate how similar the two words are.– Paul A. ClaytonJun 3, 2013 at 10:21
1 Answer
According to http://www.nytimes.com/1997/01/26/movies/the-names-came-from-earth.html?pagewanted=2&src=pm the name Ewok was actually taken from:
Miwok, the Indian tribe indigenous to San Rafael, Calif., the location of Mr. Lucas's Skywalker Ranch
Having said that, it sure is one mighty coincidence that it's "Wookiee" phoneticaly backwards, and the fact that in the original concept they were actually Wookiees, not Ewoks, may have some bearing on the matter:
The Ewok battle was a rethinking of Lucas's original idea to end his first story treatment with a battle on the Wookiee planet.
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4Did you mean (almost--wook vs. wok) reversed syllables? It seems that "Wookiee" phonetically backwards would be "Ekoow". Jun 3, 2013 at 2:14
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@PaulA.Clayton Edited. Thanks. That's what I was trying to ask. Jun 3, 2013 at 2:35