verb
physical_motion
Proto-Siouan-Catawba
Proto-Siouan
*o-phÉ
Pre-Mandan
Mandan
ró•pxekereʔš
‘they went in’
RTC
Proto-Mississipi-Valley
*o-phÉ
Proto-Dakota
Lakota
óphA
‘follow, go with’
EB:400b
Dakota
ópa
‘go with, follow, go in’
SRR:380b
Proto-Hoocąk-Chiwere
Chiwere
-owe
‘pass’
GM
,
uwá
‘pass through’
GM
Proto-Dhegiha
Kanza/Kaw
ophé
‘enter’
RR
Proto-Southeastern
*o-phé
Proto-Biloxi-Ofo
Ofo
ophĕ
‘come inside’
D&S:327b
Proto-Tutelo-Saponi
Tutelo
opé
‘go’
JOD
Proto-Catawba
Catawba
pe•ʔ
‘step’
BAR
General comment
In DH there are other derived forms. The root appears, not
unexpectedly, to be -phe with an approximate meaning of ‘tread, step’. Cf. ‘follow’. The cluster *ph was very rare in Proto-Siouan, and there is evidence in
other forms that it may result from syncope of an earlier **pVh or **wVh
sequence. Cf. ‘follow’, ‘comb’. The Catawba form, however, renders the syncope hypothesis suspect.
Crow bíihpi ‘falling snow’ (GG-29, DEC-6), Hidatsa wa•hpi ‘to snow’, Hidatsa
wirihpi, ‘bathe’ and Hidatsa tipihpi ‘sink into mud’ imply a verb
-hpi with a meaning like ‘be immersed in’. If that form is to be
compared here, we must explain the reverse order of presumed *w and *h.
No explanation is forthcoming.
The Lakota ‘go with, follow’ meanings may indicate that we have homophonous forms
here. Speculatively, ‘go with’ might be derived from o-he ‘follow’, q.v.,
with an otherwise unattested (in Lakota) prefix *p- meaning ‘with’. Cf. Hidatsa
api- ‘with’.