brain (1)

noun physical_somatic_body_part

Proto-Siouan-Catawba

Proto-Siouan *rąt-

Proto-Crow-Hidatsa *ahtú

Crow aašúu ‘head’ GG:3, RGG:69 , aššóo ‘place of honor opposite Tipi entrance’ GG:13

Hidatsa a•htú ‘head’ J , ahtúka ‘place of honor in earthlodge; Hidatsa Earthlodge’ GLW , ahtú ‘rear of the house’ H&V

Pre-Mandan

Mandan rą́trų ‘brain, spine’ H:174 , rą́tįrų, rątį́rų ‘brain’ RTC

Proto-Mississipi-Valley

Proto-Dakota

Lakota natá ‘head’ RTC , natáhu ‘whole skull’ EJ

Proto-Southeastern

Proto-Biloxi-Ofo

Ofo nạ́thû , †nə́thu ‘brain’ D&S:326b

Proto-Catawba

Catawba mųtu ‘brain’ KS

General comment

Several of the reconstructible words involving the upper body begin with the syllable ną, cf. ‘brain (1)’, ‘brain (2)’, ‘ear (1)’, ‘ear (2), external opening’, and ‘hair of head’. Where Crow or Hidatsa show cognate forms, the initial syllable is a and following (unexplained) preaspiration, not the expected cognate, ra. It is possible that the syllable is historically a classificatory prefix, and that the compound structure of these words was still evident in Proto-Crow-Hidatsa when the (irregular) loss of r(a)- affected the initial morpheme. (Alternatively, the r may be epenthetic between the possessive pronominal prefixes and the vowel-initial morpheme.) The medial cluster of Mandan is unexplained. Crow/Hidatsa long prefixes are possessed forms (body parts); short prefixes are unpossessed. Reduction of the regular geminate in Crow ‘head’ is probably due to contamination from ‘horn’.

Language Cognate Phonetic Siouan Meaning Comment Sources