The most common term these days is "Two-spirit," but this word was more-or-less invented in Winnipeg, Canada, in 1990, although it has some relevance as a more-or-less accurate translation from the Ojibwa phrase "niizh manidoowag" (two spirits). But this is *just* one language, and many First Nations and American Indian tribal peoples who accepted the institution, and at least *some* did not, had different terms, some fairly ribald and earthy.

The term "Berdache" is, or was, current amongst many anthropologists and linguistic "experts" on indigenous cultures, so is a fairly reasonable choice for the situation, a supposed "translation" from a very old (1840-ish?) document on skins. Does anyone suppose the document was written in Modern Politically-Sensitive English after checking Wikipaedia to see what the latest thinking was on terminology? It's described as "crude printing," so we must assume, I think, that it's the primer practice letters remembered from when the author was a very young, and barely literate, boy.

I think it's a mistake to make hasty judgements, based on modern informants who may or may not have axes to grind, about stories written by amateurs who only have a simple little story to tell, not a refereed anthropological treatise on the aetiology of transgender roles in the indigenous cultures of western North America.

Puddin'