head, back of, hair

noun physical_somatic_body_part

Proto-Siouan-Catawba

Proto-Siouan *rą-išú•

Proto-Crow-Hidatsa

Crow išúu ‘back of the neck’ RG, GG:93, RGG:74

Proto-Mississipi-Valley *ną-ižú

Proto-Dakota *nažú

Lakota †nažú ‘back of head’ EB:347a

Dakota naz´úte ‘occipital bone, base of skull’ SRR:340a

Proto-Dhegiha *ną-ižú

Omaha-Ponca noⁿzhíha ‘hair of the head’ MAS:91

Kanza/Kaw nüžǘ ‘hair’ RR

Osage nizhúha , †nižǘha ‘hair of the head’ LF:112a

Quapaw nižíha ‘hair of the human head’ JOD

General comment

Cf. ‘brain (1)’, ‘spine (1)’ and other terms relating to the head and upper body that show the element *rą-. V. also ‘horn’. Ofo ĭtcóti ‘neck, throat’, which might appear to belong here, is unquestionably influenced by *i-ro•te ‘throat’ but tc may regularly < *š but not from *r, so there may have been contamination or conflation here.

Language Cognate Phonetic Siouan Meaning Comment Sources