bone

noun physical_somatic_body_part

Proto-Siouan-Catawba

Proto-Siouan *wa-hú•(-re)

Pre-Mandan *wahu•re

Mandan wahú•, wahú•re ‘bone’ RTC

Proto-Mississipi-Valley *wahú

Proto-Dakota *huhú

Lakota huhú ‘bone’ RTC , hohú ‘bone’ RTC

Dakota huhú ‘bone’ SRR:156b

Proto-Hoocąk-Chiwere *wa•hú

Chiwere wahú, wa•hú, wahų́ ‘bone’ RR

Hoocąk waahú ‘stalk, e.g. of corn’ KM:3196 , waahu

Proto-Dhegiha *wahǘ

Omaha-Ponca wahí ‘skeleton, bones’ RTC

Kanza/Kaw wahǘ ‘bone’ RR

Osage †wahǘ ‘bone’ RR

Quapaw wahí ‘bone’ RR

Proto-Southeastern *wahú•(-ri) ~ *wahó•(-ri)

Proto-Biloxi-Ofo *aho(-ri) ~ *ahu(-ri)

Biloxi ahó, ahú, hahó, ahudí ‘bone’ D&S:170b

Ofo áho ‘bone’ D&S:319a

Proto-Tutelo-Saponi

Tutelo wahōi, wahūi , †wahu•i H

General comment

This form is composed of *wa- ‘absolutive’ and the widespread root hú•(-re) ‘tree, bone, leg, stalk, stem, trunk’, q.v. Typically, the absolutive prefix wa- narrows the meaning to ‘bone’. However, as a comparison of entries will show, there was some semantic mixing. MVS entries with wa- have all been analogically reformulated, since Proto-Siouan *wa- would normally lose its vowel by initial syllable syncope and undergo an assimilatory verschärfung, producing something like Proto-Mississipi-Valley *p-hú•, which is not found.

Other languages

  • PUA#52, ʔo, oho ‘bone’ Miller. Cf. Proto Musk *foni < **xwoni ‘bone’, also Mikasuki ʻahii ‘tree’. PUA #52 *ʔo, oho ‘bone’ Miller. PUA #64 *hu ‘tree, wood’ Miller. Cf. ‘bone’.
Language Cognate Phonetic Siouan Meaning Comment Sources