Reconstruction:Proto-Algonquian/-wa

This Proto-Algonquian entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Algonquian

Suffix

*-wa

1. suffix which marks the third-person form of verbs

   *menwa (“she or he drinks”)

Descendants

• Central Algonquian:
  • Shawnee: -wa

References

• Essays in Algonquian, Catawban, And Siouan Linguistics in Memory of Frank T. Siebert, Jr. (edited by Blair Rudes and David Costa, 2003), page 4: "In Proto-Algonquian, and in most daughter languages that retain a reflex of it, *-wa is the general third person ending of the independent order. In Shawnee, -wa has been reanalyzed as a third person singular suffix, and is absent from third-person plural forms."