hand (1)

noun physical_somatic_body_part

Proto-Siouan-Catawba

Proto-Siouan *rąpé > *i-rąpe

Proto-Crow-Hidatsa *i-rapá

Crow ilapá ‘right hand’ RG, GG:87

Hidatsa irapá ‘right hand’ J

Proto-Mississipi-Valley *nąpé

Proto-Dakota *napé

Lakota napé ‘hand’ RTC

Dakota napé ‘hand, fingers, forefoot’ SRR:330b

Proto-Hoocąk-Chiwere *ną́•pe

Chiwere ną́we ‘hand’ RR

Hoocąk ną́ąp ‘hand’ KM:2203 , nąąp

Proto-Dhegiha *nąpé

Omaha-Ponca nǫbé ‘hand’ RTC , nąbé ‘hand’ RR

Kanza/Kaw nǫbé, nąbé ‘hand’ RR

Osage nǫpé, nąpé ‘hand, fist’ RR

Quapaw nąpé ‘hand’ RR

General comment

This is a difficult set. The term replaced *i-ša•ke as the word for ‘hand’ mostly in MVS. The Crow and Hidatsa term possibly may preserve the original meaning. If the term spread in MVS at about the time the inalienable morphology was ceasing to be used with body parts (a purely MVS phenomenon), the different length and accentual patterns (Lakota and DH vs. Chiwere and Hoocąk) might be explained. It appears that *rąpé may have been adopted into the list of inalienable body parts late, retaining its original accentual pattern in Crow and Hidatsa even so. Chiwere/Hoocąk accent and length behave as if *i-, the possessive prefix, were present, while the rest of the languages behave accentually as if it were not, even though the term is inalienable in Lakota.

Language Cognate Phonetic Siouan Meaning Comment Sources