war, warpath

social_war

Proto-Siouan-Catawba

Proto-Siouan *(wa-)Ró•ta

Pre-Mandan *rót-

Mandan rótkiʔš ‘he hits it’ H:190 , wą́ʔirotki ‘war club’ H:190

Proto-Mississipi-Valley *wRo•ta

Proto-Dakota

Lakota bloṫá huƞka ‘leader of a war party’ EB:111b

Proto-Hoocąk-Chiwere *Ró•-_thą

Chiwere tóthą ‘manhunt, be on warpath’ GM , tothų́hų ‘be leading’ GM

Hoocąk toočą́ ‘war party’ [1sg. tooąaąčą] KM:3129 , toocą

Proto-Dhegiha *Rotą́

Omaha-Ponca nudóⁿ , †nodą́ ‘war’ MAS:185

Kanza/Kaw dodą́ RR

Osage dodóⁿ , †totą́ ‘go to war’ LF:37b

Quapaw totą́ ‘war’ JOD

Proto-Southeastern

Proto-Tutelo-Saponi

Tutelo érutáoⁿe ‘warrior’ [ǫ do, make] JOD , ērutāoñe , †e•ruta•ǫe ‘warrior’ H

General comment

This is an interesting stem. It looks as if it might incorporate ‘male’ in MVS, but OVS and MRS suggest that this may be an MVS reanalysis. We believe that nasality of the final syllable in MVS comes from compounding with the verb *ʔų ‘do, make’, as clarified by the Tutelo entry. Chiwere, Hoocąk aspiration may be by analogy with ‘to lead’, but we cannot consider it explained at present. Cf. ‘male’. With regard to MVS, note Hidatsa mace•ri•ri ‘warpath, warparty’, which is transparently compounded of ‘man’ (rather than ‘male’) and ‘walk’. The MVS might be compared with ‘run (2)’ -- except that aspiration is lacking here. Proto-Hoocąk-Chiwere seems to have made the link, however.

Other languages

  • Choctaw tanampi ‘be hostile, fight, beat war’ Byington 341.
Language Cognate Phonetic Siouan Meaning Comment Sources