sky

noun natural_phenomenon

Proto-Siouan-Catawba

Proto-Siouan *wą́•xi

Proto-Crow-Hidatsa *ahpá•xE (?)

Crow awáxa ‘sky’ GG:14, RGG:6 , ahpaaxí ‘cloud’ GG:4, RGG:6, RG

Hidatsa ahpá•xE ‘cloud’ J , ahpá•xi

Proto-Mississipi-Valley *mą́•xi

Proto-Dakota *mąx-pí

Lakota maxpíya ‘cloud, sky’ RTC

Sioux Valley maxpíya PAS

Proto-Hoocąk-Chiwere

Hoocąk mąąxí ‘sky, clouds (collectively)’ KM:2041 , mąąxi

Proto-Dhegiha

Osage moⁿ´xe , †mą́xe ‘sky’

Proto-Southeastern *mąxi

Proto-Biloxi-Ofo

Ofo ócigwĕ , †óšikwe ‘cloud’ D&S:328a

Proto-Tutelo-Saponi

Tutelo maqōsi ‘cloud’ N, HH

General comment

The final vowel here seems to vary between the very commonly attested -E found in Proto-Dhegiha and Crow/Hidatsa and the less common -i from Proto-Hoocąk-Chiwere. We have chosen the latter for Proto-Siouan simply because it seems to be the lectio difficilior here. The Proto-Siouan form could just as easily have been *wą́•xE. In addition, this accentual pattern presumes a missing initial syllable. The MRS case is peculiar: the regular cognate appears in Crow awáxa. The form *ahpáaxi looks like a prefixed version of the same root. Ofo š is the reflex of Proto-Siouan *x and labial resonants are lost, so the Ofo form only lacks nasalization to be a good candidate for cognacy. Cf. ‘cloud’.

Language Cognate Phonetic Siouan Meaning Comment Sources