anus, buttocks, vagina, passage

noun physical_somatic_body_part

Proto-Siouan-Catawba

Proto-Siouan *(i-)ų́•še

Proto-Crow-Hidatsa *ú•ši

Crow ú•ši ‘rectum, anus, base’ RG, GG:58

Hidatsa ú•ši ‘anus, buttocks’ J

Pre-Mandan

Mandan wų́š ‘buttocks’ H:307

Proto-Mississipi-Valley *(i-)ų́•že

Proto-Dakota *ųzé

Lakota ųzé ‘anus, buttocks, vagina, passage’

Dakota oŋzé , †ųzé ‘buttock’ SRR:379b

Proto-Hoocąk-Chiwere *ú•že or: *ú•ži RR

Chiwere ú•ye ‘vagina’ RR

Hoocąk úuži ‘buttocks; rectum; anus’ KM:3150 , uuži

Proto-Dhegiha *i-ǫ́že RR

Omaha-Ponca į́že ‘vagina’ JOD , †íže ‘vulva’

Kanza/Kaw üžé ‘pudendum’ RR

Osage ízhemoⁿḳoⁿ , †ǘže- ‘laxative’ LF:82a

Quapaw į́že, įžé ‘vagina’ JOD , į́žįɣé ‘anus’

General comment

Mandan should have s, Dakota should have a reflex of š. Mandan looks like it incorporates a fused absolutive. The DH forms are not directly reconcilable with a single proto form. Proto-Siouan *ų > *ǫ in DH, while Proto-Siouan *u > ü in DH. The DH languages show traces of both the nasalization and fronting, but this should not be possible. We suspect that there was an inalienable prefix, i-, marking this noun, as it did most body parts in Proto-Siouan. This would account (a) for the present-day long initial vowel in several languages, (b) for the accent on the present initial syllable, and (c) for the otherwise strange DH vocalism. Quapaw has compounded two distinct fricative grades here, į́že + į́ɣe, to form ‘anus’.

Other languages

  • Cf. Choc. iškiš ‘anus’; Tunica -ški ‘anus’
Language Cognate Phonetic Siouan Meaning Comment Sources