snow (2)

verb natural_force_weather

Proto-Siouan-Catawba

Proto-Siouan

Proto-Crow-Hidatsa *-hpi

Crow bíihpi ‘falling snow’ GG:29, RGG:6

Hidatsa wa• + hpi ‘to snow’ J , ma•hpi

Pre-Mandan *-kpe (?)

Mandan kapkéʔ ‘to snow’ RTC

General comment

If Crow and Hidatsa reflect *kp, Mandan may have metathesized the cluster.

However, with Hidatsa wa•hpi ‘to snow’ compare Hidatsa wirihpibathe’ and tipihpi ‘sink into mud’. Evidently, -hpi is separable, with a meaning like ‘be immersed in’. Here, perhaps cf. Proto-Siouan *spe ‘cover’, implying a possible x grade in Hidatsa -hpi. This, however, leaves Mandan unrelated. On Crow vocalism, cf. ‘snow (1)’.

Language Cognate Phonetic Siouan Meaning Comment Sources