Appropriation in the second degree

monshu stopped at Eataly yesterday because, as he put it, he wanted "to go somewhere different". This amuses me, since he's been going there probably once a month, but he brought back some really tasty fresh-made cheese ravioli for us, so I'm not going to mock. He also brought back some pretty decent Italian "cocoa cookies". The brand is Alce Nero and this is their logo:


I recognised "alce" as a cognate of English elk and reflexively translated the name as "Black Elk". But then I second-guessed myself, since elk doesn't mean the same thing everywhere. In the English of Europe, it refers to Alces alces or what we North Americans would call a "moose". What we call "elk" are Cervus canadensis, and the alternative name "wapiti" (Cree waapiti "white rump") is the most common designation among Europeans.

"Black Elk" is, of course, the English translation of the name of one of the best-known members of the Lakota nation. And since the logo seems to show a mounted Lakota warrior, it's natural to assume that's what they were referencing. According to the Italian version of the article linked to above, his name is rendered into Italian as "Alce Nero". But my lexical sources for Lakota make it clear that his original name, Heȟáka Sápa, would be less ambiguously translated as "Black Wapiti". Lakota heȟáka (lit. "antlers branched") doesn't refer to the same animal as Italian alce. That would be héblaska (lit. "antlers flat and solid").