Editing El Capitan (section)

==Naming==

The formation was named "El Capitan" by the [[Mariposa Battalion]] when they explored the valley in 1851. ''El Capitán'' ("the captain", "the chief") was taken to be a loose Spanish translation of the local [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] name for the cliff, ''Tutokanula'', meaning "Rock Chief" (the exact spelling of Tutokanula varies in different accounts as it is a phonetic transcription from the [[Miwok|Miwok language]]).<ref>{{cite summitpost |id=150993 |name=El Capitan |access-date=May 7, 2011}}</ref>

The "Rock Chief" etymology is based on the written account of Mariposa Battalion doctor [[Lafayette Bunnell]] in his 1892 book.<ref name="Discovery of the Yosemite">{{cite book
 |author=[[Lafayette Bunnell]]
 |date=1892
 |title=Discovery of the Yosemite, and the Indian war of 1851, which led to that event
 |edition=3rd
 |url=http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/discovery_of_the_yosemite/13.html
 |location=Text and illustrations digitized by The Library of Congress
 |chapter=Chapter XIII
 |access-date=October 27, 2022
 |archive-date=March 24, 2023
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230324072011/http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/discovery_of_the_yosemite/13.html
 |url-status=live
 }}</ref> Bunnell reports that [[Ahwahneechee]] [[Chief Tenaya]] explained to him in 1851 that the massive formation, called Tutokanula, could be translated as "Rock Chief" because the face of the cliff looks like a giant chief made of rock. In Bunnell's account, however, he notes that this translation may be wrong, stating: "I am not etymologist enough to understand just how the word has been constructed… [If] I am found in error, I shall be most willing to acknowledge it, for few things appear more uncertain, or more difficult to obtain, than a complete understanding of the soul of an Indian language."<ref name="Discovery of the Yosemite" />

An alternative etymology is that Tutokanula is Miwok for "Inchworm Rock".<ref name="Hartesveldt1955">{{Cite journal|last=Hartesveldt|first=Richard J.|date=1955|title=Yosemite Valley Place Names|journal=Yosemite Nature Notes|url=https://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/yosemite_valley_place_names/|access-date=28 December 2024}}</ref> [[Julia F. Parker]], the preeminent Coast Miwok-Kashaya Pomo basket-weaver and [[Yosemite Museum]] cultural ambassador since 1960, explains that the name Tutokanula, or "Inchworm Rock", originates in the Miwok creation story for the giant rock, a legend in which two bear cubs are improbably rescued by a humble [[inchworm]]. In the story, a mother bear and her two cubs are walking along the river. The mother forages for seeds and berries while the two cubs nap in the sun on a flat rock. While the cubs sleep, the rock grows and grows, above the trees and into the sky. The mother bear is unable to climb the rock to get to her cubs and she becomes afraid and asks for help. The fox, the mouse, the mountain lion, and every other animal tries to climb to the top of the giant rock but they each fail. Finally, the lowly little inchworm tries the climb and successfully makes it all the way to the top and rescues the cubs. All the animals are happy to see that the little inchworm has saved the two bear cubs and the rock is named in the inchworm's honor.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Parker |first1=Paula |title=The Story of Tu-Tok-A-Nu-La |journal=Alpinist |date=June 7, 2019 |issue=66 |url=http://www.alpinist.com/doc/web19s/wfeature-story-of-tu-tok-a-nu-la |access-date=1 November 2022 |archive-date=October 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221027223130/http://www.alpinist.com/doc/web19s/wfeature-story-of-tu-tok-a-nu-la |url-status=live }}</ref>

The "Inchworm Rock" version of the meaning of Tutokanula is also described in the story ''Two Bear Cubs: A Miwok Legend from California's Yosemite Valley'' by [[Robert D. San Souci]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=San Souci |first1=Robert |title=Two bear cubs: a Miwok legend from California's Yosemite Valley |date=1997 |publisher=Yosemite Association |location=Yosemite National Park, California |isbn=9780939666874 |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/36954543 |access-date=1 November 2022 |archive-date=November 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221108113453/https://www.worldcat.org/title/36954543 |url-status=live }}</ref> and in the First People Miwok recounting of the El Cap legend.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Legends/How_El_Capitan_Grew-Miwok.html|title=Native American Indian Legends - How El Capitan Grew - Miwok|website=www.firstpeople.us|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170703200241/http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Legends/How_El_Capitan_Grew-Miwok.html|archive-date=July 3, 2017}}</ref>