rock (3)

noun physical_spatial_mountaneous

Proto-Siouan-Catawba

Proto-Siouan *rį́•sV

Proto-Mississipi-Valley

Proto-Hoocąk-Chiwere

Hoocąk nį́įs ‘rock’ KM:2341 , nįįš

Proto-Southeastern

Proto-Tutelo-Saponi

Tutelo nistēk, histēk , †(n)iste•k ‘rock’ H

General comment

Cf. ‘rock (1)’, ‘rock (2)’. Tutelo -tēk presumably goes with Ofo tuk, leaving Hoocąk and Tutelo nį•s- as a match. Hoocąk characteristically loses final unaccented e and most Siouan languages lose them in compounds, so there are some indeterminacies here, and any reconstruction remains quite tentative. There is also the possibility that this set is derived from ‘rock (1)’, q.v. Any prefix might have generated the common glide *r to separate the affix-final and stem-initial vowels: *CV- + į́•- > *CV-r-į́•- > CV- n-į́•- with subsequent loss of the prefix and reanalysis of the root.

Language Cognate Phonetic Siouan Meaning Comment Sources