Better still Zimmermann,
"Ananu (Oji ananse) n. spider. This animal is the subject of many superstitions; for instance, that it has a bad influence upon children sleeping in the same room; it plays, moreover, a prinicipal roll in their fables, in which the acting personages are mostly animals; whence these fables are called in Oji spider stories, anansesem. The spider is represented as speaking through the nose, and its hobbling walk and other peculiarities are correctly imitated by the voice and gestures of the relater."—Vol ii, p. 17.
At vol. i, p. 193, we have two specimens of such stories, the first of which, about Anansi and his son, reminds one of one of the many stories of Boots and his Brothers; while in the second, the "Little Birds" reveal to a hunter the conduct of his wife at home. The root of the word Anansi, in different African dialects, is nan, ran, or lan, all which are verbs, meaning to spin. Anansi is therefore, the spinner. The connection between it and aranea, ἀράχνη and lana. will be evident to philologists.
