chew

verb physical_contact_deformation

Proto-Siouan-Catawba

Proto-Siouan *ra-thé (?)

Proto-Mississipi-Valley *rathé

Proto-Dakota *yathá

Lakota yathá ‘chew; gossip about’ EB:629a, EJ

Stoney yathá PAS

Proto-Hoocąk-Chiwere

Hoocąk račé ‘bite off a piece (of a soft substance)’ KM:2540 , race

Proto-Dhegiha *rathé

Omaha-Ponca waðáthe ‘food’ RTC, RR

Kanza/Kaw yačhé ‘eat’ RR

Osage ðaché ‘eat’ RR

Quapaw dathé ‘eat’ RR

Proto-Southeastern

Proto-Biloxi-Ofo

Biloxi dadĕ´ ‘chew’ D&S:183a

Proto-Catawba

Woccon Noccoo Eraute ‘have you got anything to eat? (?)’

General comment

This is a perplexing set. Superficially it appears to be transparently Proto-Siouan *ra- ‘mouth, instrumental’ and a verb root *-thé. The usual source of DH th is Proto-Mississipi-Valley *rh, but the regular outcome of *rh (itself normally a secondary cluster) in MVS is Dakotan h, Chiwere/Hoocąk ǰ and DH th. There is no regular sound correspondence set with th throughout (but cf. ‘bear > black bear (2)’), and Proto-Siouan/Proto-Mississipi-Valley *th is virtually one-of-a-kind. Also, Biloxi should have *daté; although this could be either an irregular assimilation or a case of contamination by *rute ‘eat, dip’. There is still much to explain here.

Language Cognate Phonetic Siouan Meaning Comment Sources