breast (female)

noun physical_somatic_body_part

Proto-Siouan-Catawba *ási

Proto-Siouan *á•si

Proto-Crow-Hidatsa *áci

Crow á•či ‘breast, teat, udder’ RG, GG:1, RGG:68

Hidatsa á•ci ‘her breast’ [3s; inalienable] J , áchiša ‘udder’ [cf. hiša ‘like, similar’]

Pre-Mandan *wą́š-

Mandan wą́ška ‘breast’ H:277

Proto-Mississipi-Valley *(Wa-)áze

Proto-Dakota azé

Lakota azé ‘breast’ [< as ‘breast’ + hąpí ‘juice] RTC , asą́pi ‘milk’ RTC

Sioux Valley ás- ~ azé ‘breast’ PAS

Proto-Hoocąk-Chiwere *Wá•ze

Chiwere bá•ðe ‘breast’ JDH , báθį ‘nurse, suck’ JDH , báθe, báðe GM

Hoocąk wáas ‘woman’s breast’ KM:3220 , waas

Proto-Dhegiha *Wazé

Omaha-Ponca mazé ‘breast’ RR

Kanza/Kaw bazé ‘breast’ RR

Osage baçé , †pazé ‘woman’s breast’ LF:18b

Quapaw mazé ‘breast’ RR

Proto-Southeastern

Proto-Biloxi-Ofo *tá•si

Biloxi tasí, tasiyaⁿ´

Ofo nạktā´’fi , †nəktá•fi ‘milk’ D&S:326b, JSS

Proto-Catawba

Catawba ha•s ‘breast’ KS , wita•s, wiha•š ‘milk’ KS , ta• ‘breast bone’ FGS:71 , wi•tás ‘milk’

General comment

Osage moⁿçé ‘woman’s breast’ (LF-96a) has been influenced by the word for ‘chest, breast’. All derivations from ‘breast’ are from baçé. The same remodeling may have affected Quapaw, which shows the reflex of *w, not the expected *W, even in derived forms. Nasalization in Mandan may also show the influence of ‘chest, breast’ historically, though ‘chest’ has apparently not survived into present-day Mandan. Given the short vowel in Hidatsa ‘udder’, we believe that long vowel forms in Crow/Hidatsa are possessed (body parts). However, Hoocąk also shows vowel length here, even in compounded forms. Thus we tentatively reconstruct a long vowel. Though Crow/Hidatsa sometimes loses initial w after possessive prefixes, the absence of w in Lakota and Proto-Biloxi-Ofo is strong evidence that w has been added where it appears. It is presumably the de-possessivizing absolutive. The t which appears in Proto-Biloxi-Ofo is unaccounted for unless it, too, is the remnant of an old word for ‘chest’ or ‘breastbone’ (cf. Catawba) or perhaps possessive *hta. Final i is supported by Proto-Crow-Hidatsa and Proto-Biloxi-Ofo.

Language Cognate Phonetic Siouan Meaning Comment Sources