Coyote entered English from Mexican Spanish, which had taken the word from Nahuatl coyōtl. A local animal name travelled across two language boundaries. Naming the direct donor and naming the deeper source answer different historical questions.
coyote
A wild North American member of the dog family.
Coyote came from Mexican Spanish.
How coyote reached English
oldest firstSimplified path. The puzzle showed the main steps; the full route is being checked.
Nahuatl
coyōtl
‘Coyote’
into Mexican Spanish
Mexican Spanish
coyote
‘Coyote’
into English
English
coyote
‘The wild canid’
The story of coyote
Related
A Spanish-looking word can preserve an older Indigenous American name.