beaver

noun animal_mammal

Proto-Siouan-Catawba

Proto-Siouan *wi-yá•pe

Proto-Crow-Hidatsa *wirápa

Crow bilápa ‘beaver’ RG, GG:31, RGG:2

Hidatsa wirápa ‘beaver’ J , mirápa

Pre-Mandan *wrap

Mandan waráp ‘beaver’ RTC

Proto-Mississipi-Valley *yá•pE

Proto-Dakota *čhápa

Lakota čhápa ‘beaver’ RTC

Dakota cápa , †čhápa ‘beaver’ WM:15b

Stoney čháb(a) ‘beaver’ PAS

Proto-Hoocąk-Chiwere *rá•pe

Chiwere rá•we ‘beaver’ RR

Hoocąk ráap ‘beaver’ KM:2528 , raap

Proto-Dhegiha *žá•pe

Omaha-Ponca žá•be ‘beaver’ RR

Kanza/Kaw žábe ‘beaver’ RR

Osage žábe , †žápe ‘beaver’ LF:221a

Quapaw žáwe ‘beaver’ JOD

Proto-Southeastern

Proto-Tutelo-Saponi

Tutelo yāop ‘beaver’ H

Saponi yapa, yayp ‘beaver’ Byrd

Proto-Catawba

Catawba chaupee , †čapi ‘beaver’ Gallatin

General comment

Crow/Hidatsa and Chiwere/Omaha-Ponca/Tutelo disagree on vowel length for this form. Biloxi táma ‘beaver’ DS-269b may be a borrowing from Proto-Eastern-Algonquian *tema•xkwe•wa ‘beaver, little severer of trees’ as reconstructed by Siebert (1975). The final vowel appears to show variation between a ~ e analogous to the ablaut found primarily in verbs. Nouns ordinarily do not show ablauting however; this is one of rather few that seem to. Citation forms in -a are found geographically distributed in the North with -e confined to the South of Siouan-speaking territory. Saponi has generalized -a here, although the closely related Tutelo shows the consonant-final form consistent with late loss of earlier -e, -i. Tutelo generalizes -a in verbs however, and this presumably provided a pattern. Cf. ‘dog’ for similar overall distribution.

Other languages

  • Cf. Yuchi šapa ‘fox’ LB-23
Language Cognate Phonetic Siouan Meaning Comment Sources