pine tree

noun plant

Proto-Siouan-Catawba

Proto-Siouan *Wa•si

Proto-Crow-Hidatsa *wá•ci

Crow báačii ‘pine tree’ RG

Hidatsa wá•hci ‘pine tree’ AWJ , má•hci

Proto-Mississipi-Valley *Wá•zi

Proto-Dakota *wazí

Lakota wazí ‘pine’ RTC

Dakota wazí ‘pine’ SRR:563a

Proto-Hoocąk-Chiwere *Wá•zi

Chiwere ba•ðí ‘cedar’ RR , bá•ði ‘cedar’ RR , báði ‘cedar’ JGT:118 , bádhi

Hoocąk waazí ‘pine tree’ KM:3232 , waazi

Proto-Dhegiha *Wá•zą(-hü)

Omaha-Ponca má•zi ‘cedar, pine’ RTC

Kanza/Kaw báząhü ‘pine’ RR

Osage pázą ‘spruce or pine’ LF:19b , báçoⁿ

Quapaw pásą ‘pine’ JOD

Proto-Southeastern *wa•si(•)-(hu)

Proto-Biloxi-Ofo

Biloxi aⁿsudí, aⁿsûdí, aⁿsu , †ąsu ‘pine’ D&S:178a

Proto-Tutelo-Saponi

Tutelo wāsti, wāstī, wāste , †wa•sti ‘pine’ HH

General comment

The first syllable is strikingly long in Omaha. The second vowel of Quapaw, Osage and Kanza/Kaw is unexplained, as are the ą of Biloxi, t of Tutelo, and the hc cluster of Hidatsa. Quapaw s may be a mistranscription by JOD, or it may somehow be related to the cluster found in Hidatsa. Osage has been normalized with z but may follow Quapaw. Omaha-Ponca má•zi may be from earlier *má•są hi, i.e., its unique (for DH) final i may be a reflex of *hi ‘tree’. Biloxi u ~ û is a reflex of *hu ‘tree, stalk’. Tutelo -t- appears to be intrusive; cf. ‘black (1)’. Length on the final vowel in Tutelo is unexplained. If the various problems with the putative cognates can be resolved, a Proto-Siouan reconstruction with initial absolutive *wa- is likely, as *W normally evolves from a geminate ww that has undergone verschärfung: **wa-wá•si > **w-wá•si > *Wá•si. This scenario would at once account for W-, accent and length. It is not out of the question for the prefix to have been applied only within MVS however, since direct evidence for *W is wanting outside this subgroup. H-WM explains ‘pine’ as ‘yellow wood’, no doubt a folk etymology but an instructive one.

Cf. ‘red (1a)’ for Hidatsa hihci ‘pink’ with preaspiration matching that in ‘pine tree’. Cf. also ‘yellow’ and ‘yellow > tawny’ for a discussion of h augmented color terms and an association between ‘yellow’ and ‘pink’. If there were an augmented ‘yellow’ in Proto-Crow-Hidatsa (whether folk etymology or not), then we might propose alternate reductions: *wa•sihi > wa•sii in Crow vs.

*wa•sihi > *wa•shi > wahsi in Hidatsa.

Language Cognate Phonetic Siouan Meaning Comment Sources