shell > spoon

noun physical_somatic_body_part

Proto-Siouan-Catawba

Proto-Siouan

Proto-Crow-Hidatsa *wató•ki

Crow bišó•či ‘musselshell, seashell’ GG:34, RGG:9

Hidatsa wató•ki ‘clam, musselshell, seashell’ J , mató•ki

Pre-Mandan

Mandan tó•ki ‘shell’ RTC

Proto-Mississipi-Valley *htú•ki

Proto-Dakota *thukí

Lakota thukí ‘clam’ EB:501b

Dakota tuki´hasaƞ , †thukíhasą ‘mussel shells’ SRR:480b

Proto-Hoocąk-Chiwere *thú•ki

Chiwere thúge ‘horn (!) spoon’ GM

Hoocąk čuugí ‘spoon; shell’ KM:282 , cuugi ‘clam, oyster’ KM:285 , čuugísą , cuugisą

Proto-Dhegiha *htǘke

Omaha-Ponca tíhaba , †ttíhaba ‘clam (shell)’ MAS:40

Kanza/Kaw ččihóba ‘clamshell spoon’ RR

Osage ṭsiúge , †hcǘke ‘spoon, shell spoon’ LF:163b

Quapaw ttíke ‘horn (!) spoon’ [in maze ttíke ‘metal spoon’] RR , ttíkemani ‘clam’ JOD , ttíke ‘spoon’ JOD

Proto-Southeastern

Proto-Biloxi-Ofo

Ofo tūk , †tu•k ‘stone’ [v. ‘rock’] D&S:331a, JSS

General comment

The initial aspiration in MVS implies an earlier but now missing initial syllable. There is evidence that this term is widely borrowed, cf.

Choctaw shaⁿha toba ‘oyster shell’ (toba) < Proto-Musk. *tokwa.

Iroquoian Moh. atókwa; Onei. atókwat; Onon.

ató:kwat; Sen. atókwa-; Huron estoqua, Mithun, p.277. All are ‘spoon, ladle’. So the missing initial may simply have been a-. The word may represent a relatively early borrowing throughout Siouan. The vowels do not match properly, nonetheless, it does seem to be reconstructible at the subgroup level.

Other languages

  • Atakapa: uk ‘shell, oyster’ Swadesh-9 Chitimacha: ʔukšču ‘oyster’.
Language Cognate Phonetic Siouan Meaning Comment Sources