plum

noun plant_part

Proto-Siouan-Catawba

Proto-Siouan *aką́te

Proto-Crow-Hidatsa

Hidatsa wá•kata, má•kata ‘plum’ AWJ

Pre-Mandan

Mandan wá•kta ‘wild plums’ RTC , katék ‘chokecherries’ RTC

Proto-Mississipi-Valley *hką́tE

Proto-Dakota

Lakota khą́ta ‘plums’ RTC

Dakota kaⁿte , †khą́te ‘prunus americana’ , kaŋ´-ta , †khą́ta ‘plums’ SRR:260b

Proto-Hoocąk-Chiwere *khą́te

Chiwere khą́ǰe ‘plum’ RR

Hoocąk kąąč ‘plum’ KM:1760 , kąąc

Proto-Dhegiha *hką́te

Omaha-Ponca kką́de ‘plum’ RR

Kanza/Kaw kką́ǰe ‘plum’ RR

Osage hką́ce ‘plum’ RR

Quapaw kką́tte ‘plum’ RR

Proto-Southeastern

Proto-Biloxi-Ofo

Ofo akô´ⁿti, akô´ⁿt, akóⁿt , †aką́ti ‘peach, plum’ D&S:320a

General comment

In Mandan (a) nasalization is wanting and (b) vowel syncope in medial syllables seems irregular. The former suggests the word is a borrowing from Hidatsa. The final vowel in Hidatsa and Mandan is unexpected as is the Dakotan variation, but cf. ‘wing (1)’, ‘ball’, ‘fire’. Ofo, interestingly, lacks aspiration here even though the k begins a second, stressed syllable and Swanton transcribed it several times. The length and accentual patterns in Mandan, Crow and Hidatsa might explain the apparent irregularity in Ofo in terms of a post-Proto-Siouan accent shift, but this is suspicious because the Ofo aspiration rule was synchronically active quite late. Post-Proto-Siouan accent shift could also explain the lack of length of the accented vowels in DH and Chiwere (Hoocąk lengthens all monosyllables) however, but if this is the case, terms like ‘plum’ will force us to interpret vowel length as distinctive in Proto-Siouan. Biloxi tkâ´nâ, tokonâ´ ‘peach, apple’ (DS:276b) is clearly either borrowed from, or contaminated by, a phonetically similar form found in slightly different shapes in a variety of southeastern languages, cf.

Choctaw tákkonlošiplum’; tákkon ‘peach’ (RR) (also Chickasaw and Alibamu); Tunica téhkʔelu (stem for several fruits) (MRH); Shawnee tʔkanaplum’ (Pentland).

Other languages

  • Choctaw tákkonloši ‘plum’ RR
  • Choctaw tákkon ‘peach’ RR
  • Tunica téhkʔelu MRH
  • Com stem for several fruits
  • Shawnee tʔkana ‘plum’ Pentland.
Language Cognate Phonetic Siouan Meaning Comment Sources