body

noun physical_somatic

Proto-Siouan-Catawba

Proto-Siouan *i-xú•ha

Proto-Crow-Hidatsa *xúa < *xúha

Crow axúa ‘body’ GG:16, RGG:68

Hidatsa xú(a) ‘body’ J , ixú ‘his body’ J

Proto-Mississipi-Valley *xú•ha

Proto-Dakota

Lakota xuhá ‘hide scrapings’ EB:196a

Proto-Hoocąk-Chiwere *xú•ha

Chiwere xú•ha ‘skin, person/animals’ RR

Hoocąk xúu ‘skin’ KM:3949 , xuu ‘hide (of animal); skin or hair (human)’ KM:514 , háa , haa

Proto-Dhegiha *xüha

Omaha-Ponca xįhá ‘skin’ MAS:309 , xiⁿhá

Kanza/Kaw xühá ‘skin’ RR

Osage xúha , †xǘha ‘skin’ LF:221a

General comment

Cf. ‘skin’. Hidatsa suggests that there was a Proto-Siouan *xú•ha ‘body’, reanalyzed to Proto-Mississipi-Valley *xu• + *ha, ‘body’ + ‘covering’, through folk etymology; hence the semantic switch to ‘skin’, q.v. The accentual pattern and vowel length imply a missing initial syllable. Many body parts and kin terms must be reconstructed as dependent nouns with the possessive prefix *i-. ‘body’ or ‘skin’ may well have been inalienably possessed also, i.e., *i-xú•ha.

Language Cognate Phonetic Siouan Meaning Comment Sources