I believe this word is misspelled; I believe the last few syllables are
"coniosis". I'm usually pretty good at remembering spellings of words;
can somebody in possession of the cited dictionaries check? I'd hate
to go to my grave with a misspelling in my memory -- particularly of
such a noteworthy word.
I believe that in North America somewhere is a lake whose name is the
text of a treaty between tribes living on opposite sides. Its meaning
is, if I remember correctly, "You fish on your side, I fish on my
side, and nobody fishes in the middle." The name of the lake,
according to some random AOL web page AltaVista threw at me, is the
43-letter(?) Lake Chargoggagoggmanchaugagoggchauunagungamaugg. It is
currently called Webster Lake.
The story is apocryphal; perhaps it is true, but it seems doubtful.