yellow

verb perceptual_visual_color

Proto-Siouan-Catawba *sí•ri (?)

Proto-Siouan *sí•(-re)

Proto-Crow-Hidatsa

Hidatsa cí•ri ~ cíʔiri ‘yellow’ J

Pre-Mandan *si•re

Mandan ší•re ‘tawny colored, light brown’ RTC , sí•re ‘yellow’ RTC

Proto-Mississipi-Valley *zí•

Proto-Dakota *zi

Lakota zi ‘yellow, pale’ RTC

Dakota zi ‘yellow’ SRR:649b

Proto-Hoocąk-Chiwere *zí•

Chiwere ði• ‘yellow’ RTC, RR

Hoocąk zii ‘yellow’ KM:3975 , zii

Proto-Dhegiha *zí

Omaha-Ponca zi ‘yellow’ RTC, RR

Kanza/Kaw zíhi ‘yellow’ RR

Osage zí ‘yellow’ RR

Quapaw zí ‘yellow’ RR

Proto-Southeastern (wa•-)sí•

Proto-Biloxi-Ofo *sí

Biloxi sí; sidí, sídi; sihiyĕ´ , †sí ‘make yellow’ D&S:254a

Ofo fhí , †fhí• ‘yellow’ D&S:323b , †əkfú• fhi• ‘yellow bead’ D&S:319, JSS

Proto-Tutelo-Saponi

Tutelo siī ‘yellow’ H , wāsi ‘yellow’ H

Proto-Catawba

Catawba siri ‘clear (as water)’ KS, MAS

General comment

Cf. ‘yellow > brown’. The aspiration in Ofo may be due to vowel syncope *sihi > *fihi > fhi. Several languages seem to have reflexes of *síhi. An analogous augment is found with some other color terms, są ~ sąhą ‘white (1)’, to ~ tóho ‘blue, green’. Normally the extension is formed with -hV where the V copies the preceding one. This sort of partial reduplication appears to be unique to color terms. It may be derived from an intensifier, -hi, found in some languages, e.g. Quapaw. The same augment may explain the Hidatsa doublet with and without glottalization.

Other languages

  • Yuchi: hi ti LB. Cf. PUA *si, *ci ‘yellow (guts, gall)’ Miller #476. In 1987 version listed under *si only, ‘intestines’; ‘yellow’ a derived form in Cora only. Cf. Davis + Miller, Proto-Keresan Phonology, IJAL 29, p.321 *čingI (cf. also ‘brown’).
Language Cognate Phonetic Siouan Meaning Comment Sources