blue, green

verb perceptual_visual_color

Proto-Siouan-Catawba

Proto-Siouan *(i-)htó•he

Proto-Crow-Hidatsa *túa < *tóhe

Crow šúa ‘blue, green’ RG, GG:56, RGG:85

Hidatsa tóʔhi ‘blue, green’ J , tóʔohi ‘green, grass color’ J , túa

Pre-Mandan *toh-

Mandan tohóʔš ‘it’s blue’ RTC

Proto-Mississipi-Valley *htó

Proto-Dakota thó

Lakota thó ‘green, blue’ RTC

Sioux Valley thó PAS

Proto-Hoocąk-Chiwere *thó•

Chiwere thó ‘blue, green’ RTC

Hoocąk čóo ‘green, blue’ KM:258 , coo

Proto-Dhegiha *htó(-hV)

Omaha-Ponca ttú ‘blue, green’ RTC , ttó ‘blue, green’ RR

Kanza/Kaw ttóho ‘blue, green’ RR

Osage htóho ‘blue’ RR

Quapaw ttó, ttóho, ttohí ‘blue, green’ RR

Proto-Southeastern *ithó•hi

Proto-Biloxi-Ofo *ithó•hi

Biloxi tohí, tóhü D&S:277b

Ofo ithó̄hi, itóhi , †ithó•hi D&S:324b, JSS

Proto-Tutelo-Saponi

Tutelo otō; otolakōī; oṭólakhóⁿoⁿ , †otó• N, H, HW

General comment

The -hV of DH color terms (e.g. ‘yellow’, ‘white (1)’, and ‘yellow > brown’) is not inherited from the proto-language. It appears to be an intensifier and may result from vowel assimilation affecting the DH particle -hi ‘very’.

Crow and Hidatsa -ua are regularly cognate with forms in -oh in other languages. Hidatsa tóʔhi is not readily explained. Hidatsa tua may also reflect ‘vine’ q.v. (in the extended sense ‘grass color, ripe’).

Other languages

  • Cf. Choctaw/Chickasaw tóhbi ‘light colored, white’ RR
Language Cognate Phonetic Siouan Meaning Comment Sources