seven (2)

numeral abstract_number

Proto-Siouan-Catawba

Proto-Siouan

Proto-Mississipi-Valley

Proto-Dhegiha *hpé•-rǫpa

Omaha-Ponca ppéðǫba ‘seven’ RTC

Ponca ppé•ðąba ~ ppéąba (fast) ‘seven’ [So. Ponca] RR

Kanza/Kaw ppéyǫba ‘seven’ RR

Osage hpéǫpa ‘seven’ RR

Quapaw ppénǫba ‘seven’ RR

Proto-Southeastern

Proto-Biloxi-Ofo

Biloxi náⁿpahudí , †ną́pa-hudi ‘two + stem, bone’ D&S:238b

General comment

Cf. ‘eight’. In DH and Biloxi the counting system has shifted independently to a partial quinary pattern (similar to neighboring central Algonquian and Muskogean systems). DH *hpe•- is unidentified, and apparently unattested outside the counting words. Initial hC always indicates a lost initial syllable in DH, so the stem might conceivably be nąpéhand (1)’ (i.e., the ‘second hand’ in counting, cf. the use of *šak- ‘hand’ in ‘seven (1)’), or it might be some other term; at this point it is impossible to recover the missing syllable. Biloxi náⁿpahudítwo’ + ‘stem, bone’ (DS-238b) shows a morpholexically dissimilar but semantically parallel quinary development.

The Proto-Dhegiha and Biloxi forms are not cognate.

Language Cognate Phonetic Siouan Meaning Comment Sources