Reconstruction:Proto-Algonquian/-θkweni

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

Alternative forms

*-ɬkweni (alternative orthography)

Etymology

From Proto-Algic *wʔeɬkwene, *wʔeɬkwane (“liver”), whence also Wiyot watwar (“liver”)^[1] and Yurok 'wrhlkun (“liver”). The term was always possessed, and in some languages (including Yurok) the third-person prefix (*weʔ-) was incorporated into the stem.

Noun

*-θkweni

liver
*neθkweni (“my liver”)

*weθkweni (“her or his liver”)

Descendants

Plains Algonquian:
- Arapaho: hie (“liver”)
- Cheyenne: he'e (“liver”)
Central Algonquian:
- Cree: -skwan/-ᐢᑲᐧᐣ (-skayn, “liver”), -skon/-ᐢᑯᐣ (-skon, “liver”)
- Ojibwe: -kon (“liver”) (nikon (“my liver”), okon (“her or his liver”))
- Fox (Sauk): -hkoni (“liver”)
- Miami: (ni)hkoni (“(my) liver”)
Eastern Algonquian:
- Abenaki: -skwen (“liver”)
- Malecite-Passamaquoddy: sqon (“liver”)
- Unami: xkwùn (“liver”)
- Munsee: xwíhk (“liver”)

References

Ives Goddard, Algonquian, Wiyot, and Yurok, in Linguistics and Anthropology: in Honor of C. F. Voegelin →ISBN
Costa, David J. (2003) The Miami-Illinois Language (Studies in the Native Languages of the Americas), Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, →ISBN

^ Note that, as Goddard writes (op. cit.), "in the words for 'bone' and 'liver' Wiyot has d (phonetically a flap [r]) where Algonquian has *n. [...] Wiyot d goes back to earlier *n in all cases." That Wiyot r (i.e. /r/, which Goddard writes as ‹d›) originates from n was previously noted also by Sapir and by Kroeber.

[1] Note that, as Goddard writes (op. cit.), "in the words for 'bone' and 'liver' Wiyot has d (phonetically a flap [r]) where Algonquian has *n. [...] Wiyot d goes back to earlier *n in all cases." That Wiyot r (i.e. /r/, which Goddard writes as ‹d›) originates from n was previously noted also by Sapir and by Kroeber.

[1]