round (2)

verb perceptual_visual_shape

Proto-Siouan-Catawba

Proto-Siouan *wró•

Proto-Crow-Hidatsa

Hidatsa póhorowE ~ póhorawE ~ póharawE ‘spherical’ J

Proto-Mississipi-Valley *wró•(-ka)

Proto-Hoocąk-Chiwere *pró•(-ke)

Chiwere bró•ge ‘round’ RR

Hoocąk porók ‘round’ KM:2501 , poroke ‘be spherical’ KM:2502 , poropóro , poroporo

Proto-Dhegiha *bró•ka

Omaha-Ponca bðóga ‘round’ RR

Kanza/Kaw bló•ga ‘whole dollar’ RR

Osage bthóga , †bróga ‘a whole, dollar’ LF:28a

Quapaw bdóka, bdóka ‘all, round’ RR, JOD

Proto-Southeastern

Proto-Biloxi-Ofo

Ofo plócka, plótka, -plóska , †plóška ~ †plótka ~ †plóska ‘round’ D&S:328b

Proto-Catawba

Catawba wαrup- ‘round’

General comment

Cf. similar Muskogean terms: Choctaw bolokta ‘round’ (CB); Alabama bolotka ~ bonotka ‘round’ (KJL); Mikasuki woʻloʻkii ‘round’ (JDW) wolooki ‘round’ (RG). All of these terms in Siouan and Muskogean involve sound symbolism to a considerable degree. We take the ones with clear reflexes of *wro to be cognate but suspect all the others because of the near-universal tendency for ‘round’ to include labials, rounded vowels and liquids the world over. If Proto-Siouan *w- is a reflex of ‘absolutive’, the reconstruction would be *wa-ró•. Cf. Catawba. Hidatsa might fit, if from earlier *porohawi, with metathesis of r and h.

Language Cognate Phonetic Siouan Meaning Comment Sources