Reconstruction:Proto-Algonquian/meʔtekwa·pyi
Proto-Algonquian
editEtymology
editA compound of *meʔtekwi (“stick”) or *meʔtekwa (“tree”) + *-a·py (“string”).
Bows probably postdate the breakup of Proto-Algonquian proper; this compound seems to have been formed at a later date (as is also suggested by its absence from Eastern Algonquian).[1]
Noun
edit*meʔtekwa·pyi (plural *meʔtekwa·pye·ri)
Synonyms
editDescendants
edit- Plains Algonquian:
- Arapaho: beeté yook (“bowstring”)
- Cheyenne: ma'tāno (“bowstring”) (from the plural)
- Central Algonquian:
- Ojibwe: mitigwaab (“bow (weapon)”)
- Menominee: maeqtekuap (“bowstring, bow”)
- Miami: mihtekoop (“bow”)
References
edit- Ives Goddard (1974)
- Northeast Anthropology, issues 46-50 (1993), page 6:
- The existence of cognate terms for bow and arrow has been noted previously. Siebert (1975:319) cited only one instance of the Proto-Algonquian "bow" word, *aʔta·pya (literally, 'string set in place'), in Central Algonquian languages, namely Cree ahča·piy (or ašča·piy in the Montagnais dialect). […] The more common term in Central Algonquian languages is derived from 'wood' or 'stick' (e.g., Menominee meqteks Ojibwa mettikwap, and Fox mehtekwapi); Goddard (1974) reconstructs Proto- Algonquian *meʔtekwa·pyi "bowstring".
- Costa, David J. (2003) The Miami-Illinois Language (Studies in the Native Languages of the Americas), Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, →ISBN
- Ives Goddard, Pre-Cheyenne *y, in In Honor of Mary Haas: From the Haas Festival Conference, page 349
- Marc Picard, Principles and Methods in Historical Phonology: From Proto-Algonkian to Arapaho