moccasin (1)

noun physical_artefact_dress

Proto-Siouan-Catawba

Proto-Siouan *hų•pE

Proto-Crow-Hidatsa *hu•pá

Crow huupá ‘shoes’ RG

Hidatsa hu•pá ‘moccasin, shoe’ AWJ , watahpa, matahpa ‘my moccasin’ AWJ

Pre-Mandan

Mandan hųpé ‘shoes’ RTC

Proto-Mississipi-Valley *hų́pE ~ *hą́pE

Proto-Dakota *hą́pA

Lakota hą́pA ‘moccasin’ RTC

Dakota háŋpa , †hą́pa ‘moccasins’ SRR:124a

Sioux Valley hą́p-a pas

Proto-Dhegiha *hǫpé

Omaha-Ponca híⁿbe , †hįbé ‘moccasin’ MJS:121 , hįbé , †hįbé ‘moccasin’

Kanza/Kaw hǫbé ‘moccasin’ RR

Osage hǫpé ‘moccasin’ RR

Quapaw hǫpé ‘moccasin’ RR

General comment

This may have been an inalienably possessed, or, at least, typically possessed noun, and as such would normally have carried a prefix that would explain its behavior with regard to accent. Both the Dakota accent and Crow/Hidatsa vowel length suggest proto-accent on the penultimate vowel, which in turn suggests such a monosyllabic possessive prefix. Differences in the final vowel are not as easily accounted for, and the fact that the vowel ablauts in Dakota is not really explicable. Nor are differences in reflexes of the accented proto-vowel easy to explain. DH frequently undergoes merger of and to ą but Dakota does not normally follow this pattern.

The Omaha-Ponca vowel is simply irregular, and the peculiar behavior of Mandan accent and the Hidatsa possessed form round out the roster of interesting irregularities. It might be worth noting that syncope in the Hidatsa possessed form parallels syncope of the analogous vowel in Crow dog, q.v., another ablauting noun.

Language Cognate Phonetic Siouan Meaning Comment Sources