I don't think we can "nail down" any definitive meanings for any of this stuff (unfamiliar words, etc.) that comes from the Mardi Gras Indians. As someone mentioned above, today's Indians themselves no longer know what all the words and phrases mean!

This stuff is ancient, and comes from a culture that has had very little (if any) written history, just an oral tradition passed along in a dead language that may or may not have evolved from Creole French patois, long-lost African vocabularies, and maybe a little bit of Italian picked up from New Orleans' Sicilian-immigrant population (a possible, if unlkely, source for a refernce to "Giacomo" the Carnivale jester.)

A few random footnotes:

Uptown tribes tend to pronounce it "fee-nah-nay," but downtown Indians say "fee-on-day." The two different pronunciations also both appear on commerical recordings. That alone should put some doubt on any attempt at an "accurate" translation!

Sugarboy Crawford made the first commercial recording based on a Mardi Gras Indian chant, but by no stretch of the imagination did he "write" Jock-A-Mo/Iko Iko.

"My king all dressed in red" is very obviously a Mardi Gras Indian chief, leader of the singer's gang, not a personality from the Battle of New Orleans (!?!)

The very wonderful Wild Tchoupitoulas album is the only recording featuring all five of the Meters (including Art and Cyril Neville), just as the group was breaking up, along with all four Neville Brothers, just before they united as a working ensemble. It's a terrific melding of traditional Indian vocal music with polished R&B instrumental accompaniment, but not quite the same thing as the "real" Indian experience you hear on the streets.

Recordings by the Wild Magnolias are in the same vein, with really hot modern instrumental accompaniment, and are highly recommended if only because of Big Chief Bo Dollis' incredible lead vocals. Monk Boudreaux, Big Chief of a "rival" tribe (White Eagles, if I'm not mistaken), appears along with Bo on most of the Magnolias albums.

Within the last year or two, recordings have been released that reveal the raw, unaccompanied sound of Indians on the street (or at a Sunday-evening barrom "practice") much more accurately than those earlier studio recordings. Sorry I don't have CD titles at my fingertips for reference ~ I know this only from hearing cuts on WWOZ radio, especially during Carnival time. Searching on "Bo Dollis" and/or "Wild Magnolias" and looking for 21st-century issue dates will undoubtedly help.