medicine

noun social_culture

Proto-Siouan-Catawba

Proto-Siouan *wą•hką

Pre-Mandan

Mandan pą́kahro ‘unidentified medicine plant’ H:136

Proto-Mississipi-Valley *mą•hką

Proto-Hoocąk-Chiwere *mą́•khą

Chiwere mánka, mánkan , †mą́khą ‘medicine’ JGT:42

Hoocąk mąąką́ ‘medicine’ KM:1975 , mąąką

Proto-Dhegiha *mąhką́

Omaha-Ponca †makką́ ‘medicine’

Kanza/Kaw makką́ ‘medicine’ RR

Osage moⁿḳóⁿ , †mąhką́ ‘drugs, any kind of medicine except poisons’ LF:100

Quapaw makką́ ‘medicine’ RR

Proto-Southeastern *mąk- ‘snake’

Proto-Biloxi-Ofo *ąk + *kré•si ‘snake + spotted’

Biloxi nDɛ•seʔ, ndɛ•seʔ, ndĕ´si, indesí , †ndé•si ‘serpentm snake’ D&S:234b, MRH, MS

Ofo oⁿktéfi , †ąktéfi ‘snake’ D&S:328a

Proto-Tutelo-Saponi

Saponi Moka , †mǫka ‘snake’ F

General comment

This term, apparently originally meaning ‘medicine’, has been specialized in OVS to mean ‘snake’. This parallels the cooption of *wahką́ ‘sacred’, q.v., to mean ‘snake’ in Chiwere/Hoocąk and probably DH and Tutelo as well. In late prehistoric and/or early historical times these languages all shared a geographical location at the peripheries of the Ohio Valley and adjacent areas in which Mississippian culture and religion presumably penetrated.

Diffusion of the meaning ‘snake’ could possibly have something to do with that fact. Biloxi and Ofo lose initial labial resonants but seem clearly related to the rest of this set. See further discussion under *wahką́ ‘sacred (2a), snake’.

Language Cognate Phonetic Siouan Meaning Comment Sources