Klamath-Modoc

Alternative forms

• ṫwini·qs^[1]
• twǃǐnnă´ĕk^[2]
• tuiniχátko^[3]
• t'i-t'on:q-atk^[4]

Noun

t'winiːq

1. a two-spirit (of either sex); a transgender or third-gender person (of any sexual orientation)

References

1. ↑ Handbook of North American Indians, volume 12 (1983): Somewhat outside the pale of respectable Klamath society (Modocs deny having had them at all) was the berdache {ṫwini·qs) of either sex. Berdaches usually took the role after puberty, wearing women's garb, taking a spouse, and performing work appropriate to the opposite sex.
2. ↑ Encyclopedia of Lesbian Histories and Cultures
3. ↑ Albert Samuel Gatschet, Dictionary of the Klamath Language (1890)
4. ↑ Barker (1963)

• The Phonology of Campidanian Sardinian (sic, mentions this word in a discussion of known onset reduplication phenomena)
• Culture and human sexuality: a reader (1993), page 381: "Spier (1930:50-53) described a bisexual female Klamath berdache."