Some Prehistoric Algonquian Cultural

Vocabulary
(Second edition)
Most PA reconstructions published to date, and the data
supporting them, are found in George F. Aubin's Proto
Algonquian Dictionary (Aubin 1975). Most of the PCA or
Proto Lake ones are found in John Hewson's Computer-
Generated Dictionary of Proto Algonquian (Hewson 1993).
Those I have newly reconstructed or substantively revised in the
course of my linguistic paleontology are presented here. Most are
the names of game animals or useful plants, but some other terms
of cultural interest are included. Pseudo proto terms are so called
because they're likely based on loans postdating the proto
language in whose phonology they're written.

A.1. Animals.

PA *a{yahke:h}iwa 'mink': Passamaquoddy ciyahkehs, PCA

*a{yahkayeh}iwa 'mink': Moose Cree acakâ}, Montagnais
atsakash, compare Naskapi a{ikaasu(maakus) '(small lake fish
eaten by') mink'. PA *e: is often replaced by PCA *aye at
morpheme boundaries.
PA *aya:pe:wa 'bull moose': Loup aianpe 'male deer',
Massachusett aiyomp 'hart, roe', Eastern Abenaki aïañbe 'the
male of deer or deer-kind (including moose), a buck', Western

1
Abenaki aiyôba 'bull, adult male of cleft-hoofed ruminants,
Cervidae and Bovidae', Old Unami Delaware ayapeu 'a buck',
Micmac yßp 'male of ox or moose kind' /iyap/ 'bull (moose,
caribou, etc.)' (Rand); Ojibwa aiâbe 'male quadruped',
Menominee aya:p£:w 'male, stag, buck' and aya:p£:hs£h 'male of
smaller species', Shawnee hayaape 'buck deer, elk, buffalo', Plains
Cree iya:pe:w 'buck moose', Saguenay Montagnais ïape8 'male
moose'; Arapaho henéé{ee and Atsina ?enéé{ee 'bull buffalo'.
Compare Montagnais iapeutiku 'rutting male caribou'. Atsina
byíih and diminutive Arapaho biihíhi? 'cow buffalo' reflect PA
*mo:swa 'moose', so a shift from 'bull moose' to 'bull buffalo' in
those languages makes sense. These two large animals are mainly
in complementary distribution geographically.
PA *e[kwe:?[emwa 'female dog': Western Abenaki skwass]m
'female dog or other canine', Eastern Abenaki sk8éssem 'female of
lynx, hare', Munsee Delaware oxkweex]m 'female animal, female
dog', Unami Delaware xkwex]m 'female animal', Old Unami
Delaware ochkwechum 'a female of beasts', Massachusett
squáshimwe 'of a female quadruped', Narragansett squáshim 'a
female quadruped', Virginia vsqwausum 'bitch', Penobscot
skwèhs]mohs, Micmac skw¶s¢m /skwes'm/ (Rand), Cree
iskwe:stim, Shawnee }kwe?§emwa 'female of animals', Miami
kwäsimua 'female of mammals and reptiles'; Saguenay
Montagnais isk8astem8 and Montagnais ishkueshtim 'female
dog'.
PA *e[kwe:?le:wa 'female game bird': Unami Delaware xkweh]le
'female bird', Old Unami Delaware ochkwéhelleu 'a female of
birds; a hen; a turkey hen', Micmac skw»oo (Rand) /skwe:w/
'female bird', Miami kwässia 'female of birds', Montagnais

2
ishkueleu 'female partridge', Naskapi iskwaayaaw 'female
ptarmigan'. Ojibwa nojésse 'female bird' is the regular product of
a merger of the FEMALE with FERTILE FEMALE
categories in that language. Miller's detailed Unami Delaware
classification suggests no FERTILE FEMALE category for
birds (Miller 1975:438).
PA *e[kwe:me[kwa 'female beaver': Loup esk8ámêsk8e, Western
Abenaki skwamiskw 'female beaver', Montagnais ishkuemishku
'female beaver'.
PA *e[kwe:ya:kwa 'female porcupine': Micmac skwȁk 'female
porcupine' (Rand), /skweyox/ 'female animal', Saguenay
Montagnais isk8eak8 and Montagnais ishkweiaku 'female
porcupine'.
PA *na:pe:?[emwa 'male dog': Western Abenaki nôbass]m 'male
beast, especially canine or bear', Massachusett nomposhim 'a male
animal', Passamaquoddy napehs]m 'male animal', Micmac
nßp¶s¢m 'a male dog' (Rand), Ojibwa nâbêssim 'male dog',
Saguenay Montagnais napechtim8 and Montagnais napeshtim
'male dog', Plains Cree na:pe:stim 'male dog', Naskapi naapaastim
'male dog'. Compare Narragansett enewáshim 'a male animal',
Munsee Delaware l]n]weex]m 'male animal, dog', Unami
Delaware l]n]wex]m 'male animal', Old Unami Delaware
lennowéchum 'the male of beasts'.
PA *na:pe:[kwa 'male bear': Micmac nßb¶skw (Rand), Ojibwa
nâbek, Saguenay Montagnais napesk8 and Montagnais napeshku,
Naskapi naapaaskw. Compare Blackfoot naapissko 'male gopher'
suggesting 'male animal of the *-a[kw-a class' for the PA
meaning. PA *-a[kw-a 'bear (Siebert 1967a:23) is found in PA

3
*aka[kwa 'groundhog' as well as *ma[kwa 'bear'. A further
extension of the class is suggested by Arapaho wox?óoó? 'badger'
beside wóx 'bear'.
PA *na:pe:?le:wa 'male game bird': Western Abenaki nôbahla
'male fowl, cock', Massachusett nâmpash 'a cock', Micmac
nßb¼oo (Rand) /nape:w/ 'a male bird', Ojibwa nâbésse 'male bird',
Saguenay Montagnais napehe8 'male partridge', Plains Cree
na:pe:yew and Montagnais napeleu 'male partridge', Naskapi
naapaayaaw 'male ptarmigan'. Compare Unami Delaware
l]nuwehile 'male bird', Old Unami Delaware lennowéhelleu 'a
cock; the male of birds', and Proto Coastal *mo:ne?le:wa 'turkey':
Virginia monnagh and monassaw 'turkey', Massachusett monsh 'a
cock'.
PA *na:pe:me:kwa 'male fish': Micmac nßb¶m¶kw /napemekw/
(Rand), Ojibwa nâbêmeg, Plains Cree na:pe:me:k. Compare
Montagnais napemesh from diminutive PA *name:?sa 'fish'.
PA *na:pe:me[kwa 'male beaver': Loup napémêsk8e, Western
Abenaki nôbamskw, Ojibwa nâbêmik, Saguenay Montagnais
napemisk8(kan) 'male beaver (bones)', Plains Cree nâbemisk,
Montagnais napemishku, and Naskapi naapaamiskw. Compare
Saguenay Montagnais nape8 'male beaver'.
PA *na:pe:ya:kwa 'male porcupine': Micmac nßpegÅk 'male
porcupine' (Rand), /napiyox/ 'male animal', Naskapi naapaayaakw
and Montagnais napeiaku 'male porcupine'. Presumably the
Micmac g is a editorial misreading of manuscript y, and Rand's
whole entry under "porcupine" has the same error. *-a:kw
'porcupine' is well attested as a verb medial, for example with PA
*no:t- 'hunt' in PA *no:ta:kwe:- 'hunt porcupines': Micmac

4
nootogw¶i 'I hunt porcupines' (Rand, from the PA conjunct
participle), Saguenay Montagnais nin8tak8an 'I hunt porcupines',
compare Montagnais natuakueu 'she or he is looking for
porcupines' (with natu- 'seek').
PA *nekikw 'otter': Cree nikik, Naskapi nichikw, Montagnais
nitshiku, Ojibwa nikikw, Narragansett nkéquok (plural),
Cheyenne naeno (plural), and Atsina néíi. Compare reshaped
Menominee meke:k(w-), Arapaho yéíy, and Western Abenaki
on]gigw.
PA *no:n}ye:?[emwa 'fertile female dog': Unami Delaware
nusex]m 'nursing female animal', Menominee nu:hsi:?nem , Cree
no:se:stim , Ojibwa no:n}e:ssim, Saguenay Montagnais
n8chestim8 'female dog with young', Montagnais nusheshtim
'female dog in her reproductive years', Naskapi nuusaastim 'female
dog'. The Unami Delaware ANIMAL class includes, turtles,
snakes, lizards, frogs, toads, fishes, sea mammals, shellfish, and
bugs (Miller 1975:438).
PA *no:n}ye:[kwa 'fertile female bear': Micmac noos¶skw 'female
bear' (Rand), Old Munsee Delaware nunscheach 'female bear',1
Ojibwa nojêk 'female bear', Naskapi noosaaskw 'female bear', and
Montagnais nusheshku 'female bear in her reproductive years'.
Compare Saguenay Montagnais isk8esk8 'female bear'.
PA *no:n}ye:me[kwa 'fertile female beaver': Micmac
noosoomskw (Rand), Ojibwa nojémik 'female beaver', Saguenay
Montagnais n8chemik8 'pregnant female beaver' (Silvy 1974:7),

1 Perhaps /noon}axkw/, see (O'Meara 1990:372), though the com parative data
would sugg est /noon}e:yaxkw /.

5
Montagnais nushemishku 'female beaver in her reproductive
years', Plains Cree no:se:misk 'female beaver', Naskapi
nuusaamiskw 'female beaver'.
PA *no:n}ye:swa 'fertile doe moose': Virginia noungas 'doe',
Ojibwa no:n}e:s 'doe, mare, female of moose, deer, elk, bison,
caribou' (Siebert 1975:332), Saguenay Montagnais n8ches8
'female having young'. Compare Munsee Delaware nó:n}e:w 'doe
with young', Shawnee no:}e}kata (Algonquin -}kat 'stomach')
and Montagnais ishkue-mush 'female moose', where the mu
shows a late formation.
PA *pene:?[emwiwa 'she (dog) gives birth': Naskapi pinaastimuw,
Montagnais pineshtimu, Micmac p¶n¶s¢mit (Rand), cf.
Algonquin pinisimo, with i rather than e: as linking vowel.
PA *pene:[kwiwa 'she (bear) gives birth': Montagnais pineshku,
Micmac pen¶skwiát (Rand), modern Micmac peneskwit 'she has
pups, kittens', cf. Algonquin piniko.
PA *peni:wa 'she drops a calf, lays an egg, gives birth':
Menominee peni:w 'she bears young', Miami päniani 'I give
birth', Cheyenne é/ané/otse 'she gave birth to a baby, or puppy'
(the same verb plus perhaps obviative *-ali, suggesting a pseudo-
transitive verb). Cheyenne é/ané/táno 'she's in labor' reflects
pseudo-PA *pen/i:lenyiw/iwa 'she gives birth to an Indian, man'
incorporating PA *elenyiwa 'Indian, man' on the model of PA
*pen/e:?[emw/iwa 'a bitch gives birth to a pup' (with medial *-
e:?[emw 'dog'). PA formed verbs of giving birth to animals by
incorporating the non-initial name of the animal born between
the extended initial *pen- 'drop, give birth (as to a calf), lay (an
egg)' and the intransitive final *-i: of PA *peni:wa 'she gives

6
birth'. Thus, for example, PA *pene:?[emwiwa 'she (dog) gives
birth', PA *pene:[kwiwa 'she (bear) gives birth'.
PCA *no:n}ye:ya:kwa 'fertile female porcupine': Ojibwa nojéiag
'female porcupine', Naskapi nuusaayaakw 'female porcupine',
Montagnais nusheiaku 'female porcupine during her reproductive
years'.
PCA *wekowa 'doe unengaged in reproduction': Menominee
oko:w 'female animal', Shawnee hokowa 'young female deer',
Miami akowa 'doe, young female'.
Proto Subboreal *e:lahla 'doe': Eastern Abenaki hè'rar 'female of
deer-kind (including moose)', Western Abenaki alhla 'female
moose, deer, or bison; cow of ungulate species', Passamaquoddy
el(iyik) 'doe(s)'. Narragansett aunàn is probably a loan. Compare
Loup g8n¼'g8a 'female deer', Massachusett qunnegk(àog)
'hind(s), doe(s), the female deer', Narragansett qunnèke.
Pseudo-PA *na:pe:tehkwa 'male caribou': diminutive Micmac
nâb¶tkoo'ch 'a general name for a male' (Rand), Algonquin
nâpêtik 'domestic bull', Plains Cree na:pe:tik 'buck deer',
Montagnais napetiku 'male caribou'. Compare Naskapi
naapaautiihkw 'male caribou', where the u shows a late formation.
Pseudo-PA *na:pe:ya:skikwa 'male seal or animal of the *-ikw-a
class': Western Abenaki nôbakigw 'male seal, male of related
animals with specification', Eastern Abenaki nañbékik8 'little
male animals (including the otter, marten, etc.)', Micmac
nßb»»gwik 'a male otter or mink' (Rand), Montagnais
napeiatshiku 'a male otter', Naskapi naapaayaachikw 'male otter'.
Contrast Cree na:pe:nikik 'male otter', a late compounding. The

7
pseudo-PA terms for a seal or animal of the *-ikw-a class only
date to the proto historical period. Montagnais pineiatshiku 'a
female seal or otter gives birth' shows a class membership which
explains nusheiatshiku 'fertile female otter' beside atshiku 'seal'.
A loan from early Montagnais would explain Ojibwa nojéiakig
'female otter', whose akig can't be from either Ojibwa askig 'seal',
or nigig 'otter'. Another loan would explain the aachikw in
Naskapi nuusaayaachikw 'female otter', which can't directly reflect
either Naskapi aahchikw 'seal' nor nichikw 'otter'. A vowel
reflecting *e: (rather than the expected sequence *e:ya:) marks
Passamaquoddy skwehkikws 'female animal' and Western
Abenaki nôbakigw 'male seal, male of related animals with
specification' as loans where the initial vowel in the donor
language has been perceived as short (implying that only the
second element was borrowed, and added to Passamaquoddy and
Western Abenaki initial elements). These loans suggest a source
with something like broad phonetic -ªahkikw à 'seal, otter, or
other animal of the *-ikw-a class' as its classificatory medial. The
source is evidently a form recorded for Saguenay Montagnais by
Fabvre as akÁk8 'loup-marin'.2 Evidently, its initial vowel was
treated as long and retained by its Central neighbors and by
Micmac, but as short and thus dropped by Subboreal. Such
widespread loans reflect a control of the early fur trade by the
Montagnais near Tadoussac, and the shift in gloss reflects the
importance of otter pelts relative to sealskins for the fur trade.

2
Saguenay Montagnais had some dialectal diversity, with the material recorded by
Silvy representing the Lak e St. John area wh ere *k had already given Montagnais {
before i, such as in atchik8 'seal'. However, Fabvre's dictiona ry, which could h ave
been written at the Tadoussac Mission after 1688, still shows ki in most forms,
including the one in question (see Cowan 1977:145).

8
Pseudo-PA *no:n}ye:tehkwa 'fertile female caribou': Old Unami
Delaware nunschétto 'a doe, a hind', Micmac noosootkw 'a cow
that has a calf' (Rand), Algonquin nonjetik 'domestic cow', Plains
Cree no:se:tik 'doe', Naskapi nuusaatiihkw 'female caribou'.
Compare Montagnais ishkwetiku 'female caribou'.
Pseudo-PCA *no:n}ye:ya:skikwa 'fertile female seal or animal of
the *-ikw-a class': Ojibwa nojéiakig 'female otter', Montagnais
nusheiatshiku 'fertile female otter', Naskapi nuusaayaachikw
'female otter'. Compare Eastern Abenaki sk8ékik8 'little female
animals (including the otter, marten, etc.)', Passamaquoddy
skwehkikws 'female animal', and Micmac skwekwikw (with an
extra w by distant assimilation) 'female of small animals'.
Contrast Cree no:se:nikik 'female otter', a late compounding.
PA *-ikw-a 'rodent or small gnawing animal' (Siebert 1967a:21)
implies a class of some sort, being found in several animal names:
PA *a:skikwa 'seal', *nekikwa 'otter', *anikw 'squirrel', and
*wa:pikw- plus diminutive 'mouse'. If so, only the first two are
important enough to have been recorded as glosses for
*no:n}ye:ya:skikwa.
A.1. Plants.

PA *-akan}y 'berry plants or low bushes' is found in PA

*wete:himinakan}i 'strawberry plant', PA *mi:nakan}i 'blueberry
bush; berry bush', PA *wi:?sakiminakVn}yi 'dry ground
cranberry plant', PA *ani:pyiminakan}ya 'high bush cranberry
bush'. Fruit trees and the like are often included in this category,
sometimes with a shift to e-grade *-aken}y in recognition of their
larger size: PA *}ala:nimon}yi (?) 'sumac bush', PCA
*ka:ka:ki:minaken}yali 'staghorn sumacs', Montagnais minakashi

9
'fruit shrub' (arbuste frutier), Micmac maskwe:simanaxsi and
Algonquin wikwasïminakanj 'cherry tree', Menominee
me:ne:hsak£:hsyak 'thorn-apple trees' (compare diminutive
me:ne:hs£h 'small berry'). As the examples show, this ending is
used after *-min 'seed' (or extended *-mina:n), as well as directly
after a root which itself implies a fruit or berry.
PA *a?}a:we:min}ya 'beech tree': Micmac suwo:musi, Ojibwa
a}}a:we:mi:}}(i:k), Menominee sa:w£:meh(syak), cf. Munsee
Delaware wa}a:wé:m]nsi.
PA *a?}a:we:mini 'beech nut': Ojibwa ajawêmin (Baraga),
Menominee sa:w£:meh, Micmac sooomân (Rand), Old Delaware
schauwemin.
PA *ana:[kimini 'acorn' (Siebert 1975:312, based on Eastern
data). Presumably this was prototypically one of the more
palatable acorns (from the white or bur oak), and was extended to
other acorns as a life-form name. See also PA *me?tekwimini
'red oak acorn'.
PA *ani:pyiminakan}ya 'high bush cranberry bush': Micmac
nib¢mânÅkse 'bush cranberry tree' (Rand), Ojibwa
aniibiiminagaawanzhiig 'highbush cranberry bushes', Saguenay
Montagnais nipiminagachi 'a tree bearing little fruit' (the editor
suggests a serviceberry tree). Compare Western Abenaki
nibim]nakwam 'highbush cranberry bush'.
PA *ka:ka:ki:minaken}yali 'staghorn sumacs': Algonquin
kakakîminakânjik (a-grade), Menominee ka:ka:kemenak£:hsyan.
PA *ka:wa:ntakwa 'white spruce': Algonquin kawandak 'épinette

10
blanche' (Lemoine 1909), Ojibwa kawândag 'white spruce'
(Baraga), gaawaandag 'white spruce' (Nichols and Nyholm),
gawaunduk 'white spruce' (Johnston 1978:27), Penobscot
k¥Ûw¥takw 'white spruce'. Only one language transfers it to
another variety (Micmac kawatkw 'red spruce').
PA *ma}kwehsi:{i, plural ma}kwehsi:tali, 'reddish hog peanut'
(Falcata Comosa L. Kuntze) has been subject to extensive
reshaping, and has generally been extended to the bean. Pequot
mushquissedes 'beans', Eastern Abenaki mesk8sittar '(gros
comme) fèves de terre', best attest the unreshaped plurals. Fox
ma}ko{i:sa 'bean', Kickapoo maskoci:za 'bean', and diminutive
Menominee masku:ci:hs£h 'bean' show a PCA metathesis of the
last two consonantisms of the singular form and a change to
animate gender. Bloomfield (1962:245) identifies the last two
syllables as meaning 'little round body', which motivates the
reshaping. The first syllable of Shawnee m}ko{i?§a 'bean' is
additionally reshaped to resemble m}kw- 'red'. So is that of
Ojibwa mashkodiisiminag 'beans', which also adds *-min 'berry'
but evidently metathesizes the last two consonantisms of the
plural form rather than of the singular. An Ojibwa alternate
form, ma}kote:simin, has evidently been reshaped to resemble
ma}kote: 'prairie' (perhaps to fit a popular etymology of 'prairie
berry').
The transfer of the word from the one plant to the other is
straightforward. Densmore (1974:289) records the Ojibwa name
bagwaji-miskodiisimin for the hog peanut. The literal meaning
here is 'wild bean' (bagwaji 'wild', miskodiisimin 'bean').
Presumably, before they became familiar with the cultivated bean,
the qualifier "wild" would have been unnecessary. She identifies

11
its uses as medicine and food, and describes it as "an unusual,
reddish bean". Evidently, this kind of hog peanut looked like a
bean both to Ojibways and to Densmore. Moreover, Salwen
(1978:163) specifically identifies the beans grown by Southern
New England Indians as "kidney beans" (also reddish in color).
For this kind of bean, the color is right as well. Crowhurst
(1972:78) describes the hog peanut as follows: "a slender, twining
vine with light green leaves consisting of 3 oblong, pointed
leaflets ...The fruits are curved pods containing 3 or 4 mottled
beans. Just beneath the surface of the soil are creeping runners
which produce small petal-less flowers which turn into round
pods each containing a peanut-like seed... Manitoba east to
Quebec and south to New England... The round pods just
beneath the soil surface contain seeds that are more like shelled
beans from the garden than peanuts. They were much liked by
the American Indians."
PA *ma:la}kwehsi:{i, plural ma:la}kwehsi:tali, 'mottled hog
peanut (Amphicarpa bracteata)'. Delaware malachksit (an old
missionary transcription which must represent /ma:laxksit/) is
evidently a late formation. It's based on shorter *maxksit,
reshaped to resemble the idiosyncratic Delaware stem for 'red',
máxks-. This explanation of the Delaware word suggests that
the correct reconstruction of the basic plural is *ma}kwesitali or
*ma}kwehsi:tali (depending on how early some sound change
took place). The longer plural *ma:la}kwesitali or
*ma:la}kwehsi:tali was likely present as well, though productively
derived from the basic one. Not only Passamaquoddy malskw]sit,
Delaware malachksit, Narragansett manusqussêd 'bush bean'
(Trumbull), and Massachusett mônasquisseet, but also
Unquachog maiscusset and perhaps Montauk maugueseets

12
represent it, the last two being languages where *l gives y.
This term is easily derived from PA *ma}kwehsi:{i 'reddish hog
peanut'. PA *ma:l- (or, if Menominee miana?sekan 'spotted bass'
beside PA *a?}ikanwa 'bass' is related, PA *mya:l-) is an
unreduplicated form of PA *ma:ma:l- (or PA *mya:mya:l-), as in
Western Abenaki mômôl- 'striped' and Massachusett mômóne
'it's freckled' and mômónesu '(s)he's spotted, black or colored
here and there, in spots or stripes', and perhaps Passamaquoddy
amalh- 'fancy; with designs or colors or decorations' (with some
accreted h), and Micmac amal- 'with many varieties (sand), mixed
(design)'. The loss of the initial *m in Passamaquoddy is seen
elsewhere (as in 'caribou'). The same loss in the Micmac word
identifies it as a likely Passamaquoddy loan. +++ The antiquity of
the longer forms for the mottled hog peanut (Amphicarpa
bracteata) is doubtful at the PA level, though they might have
existed as less frequent terms. They're unattested outside the
Eastern area (and the same is true of *ma:ma:l- 'spotted').
PA *me?tekwimini 'red oak acorn'. This item is only found in
the Central languages, but its PA antiquity can be supported as
follows. Berlin (1995) argues that life-form names such as 'tree'
universally originate from the name of a culture's most important
or prototypical tree, often an oak species, and that for a time the
life-form name and the generic from which it originates remain
homophonous. Later, however, a more specific generic term may
come into being, by modification of the life-form term. In the
present case, if he's right, PA *me?tekwa 'tree' would have
originated from a homophonous pre-PA term meaning 'red oak',
whose nut would have been called *me?tekwimini 'red oak acorn'.
Later, pre-PA *me?tekwa 'red oak tree' would have been replaced

13
by PCA *me?tekwimin}ya literally 'red oak acorn tree', to
distinguish it from PA *me?tekwa 'tree'. Contrasting PA
*ana:[kimini 'acorn' suggests that the prototypical acorn didn't
grow on the oak which was the prototypical tree.
PA *mi:nakan}i 'blueberry bush; berry bush': Algonquin
minakanj 'blueberry bush', Montagnais ilniminanakashi 'blueberry
bush', literally 'ordinary berry bush', with *eleni- 'ordinary'.
Compare Micmac pkwimanaxsi and pkumanaxsi, Ojibwa
miinagaawanzh 'blueberry bush'.
PA *paka:nimin}ya (?) 'butternut tree, nut tree, hazelnut bush':
Ojibwa bagaaniminzh 'hazelnut bush', Western Abenaki
bagônimizi 'nut tree'. Notice that, if correct, this form uses *-
min 'seed' redundantly. Compare Lac Seul Ojibwa bigaanaatig
'beaked hazel' (Kenny 2000:26), and Plains Cree paka:na:htik AN
'hazel-nut-willow tree'.
PA *paka:n- plus diminutive 'small nut; hazelnut': Western
Abenaki bagônizal 'little nuts, especially hazelnuts', Ojibwa
bagaan AN 'nut, hazelnut, peanut' (Nichols). The root of
*paka:ni is *pak- 'pound', and in fact the very tough shell of the
butternut requires a great deal of pounding to extract the meat.
This suggests that this in origin was likely the specific term for
butternuts (and perhaps, diminutized, hazelnuts), the commonest
large nuts in the PA homeland.
PA *paka:ni 'large nut; white walnut, butternut': Western
Abenaki bagônal 'butternuts, nuts', cf. bagônozi 'nut tree,
specifically butternut tree', Penobscot pàkan 'large nut, butternut'
and Virginia paucauns 'walnut' (Siebert 1975:363), Loup pagan¶s
'grosses noix', Menominee paka:n AN 'large nut', cf. paka:naweh

14
AN 'butternut tree' (Bloomfield, citing Smith), Fox paka:ni
'hickory nut', cf. paka:na:hko:wiwa 'she's a walnut tree', Shawnee
paka:ni/a 'nut', ho§aawi-paka:na 'walnut', Miami pakani 'nut', cf.
kino}i}ipakani 'butternut tree'.
PA *}ala:ni 'sumac seed' is implied by three terms for 'sumac
bush': Passamaquoddy s]lanimus, Unami Delaware challanúnschi,
and Western Abenaki zalônakwam.
PA *}a:?}a:kwemini 'bunchberry': Ojibwa cacagomÁn
/}a:h}a:komin/ (Densmore), Montagnais shashakuminan 'fruit du
quatre temps (cornus canadensis)', Micmac ¢sogoman¢l
'bunchberries' (Rand). Kenney (2000:63) also cites Woods Cree
sa:sa:komina:n from Leighton 1985, a diminutive Great Lakes
Ojibwa zhaashaagominens from Meeker et. al. 1993, and Lac Seul
Ojibwa zhaashaagomiinen.
PA *weka:wiminakan}yi (?) 'thorn bush or gooseberry bush':
Cree okaweminukuse 'thorn' and reinforced okaweminukuseya'tik
'thornbush' (Faries and Watkins), Cheyenne he}kóemenó?estse
'thornbushes'. Compare PA *ka:wimina 'gooseberry'.
PA *wete:himinakan}i 'strawberry plant': Algonquin
otehiminakanj, Montagnais uteiminanakashi. Compare Plains
Cree oteheminâttik, Naskapi utaaiminaahtikw, Northern Ojibwa
otehiminaanaahtik.
PA *wi:?sakiminakan}yi 'dry ground cranberry plant': Micmac
wiskimanaxsi 'upland cranberry plant', Plains Cree
wesukemenukose 'cranberry bush' (Faries and Watkins),
Montagnais uishatsiminakashi 'red cranberry vine'. Compare
Naskapi wiisichiminaahtikw 'cranberry plant', and Plains Cree

15
wîsakîmin 'cranberry'.
PCA *ma}kwe{i:hsa 'bean': Fox ma}ko{i:sa, Kickapoo
maskoci:za, and diminutive Menominee masku:ci:hs£h. Shawnee
m}ko{i?§a is reshaped to resemble m}kw- 'red'. So is Ojibwa
miskotiisimin(ag) 'bean(s)', which also adds *-min 'seed' and
undoes the mutation of *t to *{ before *i:. Compare also Miami
ko{isa 'bean', and ko{isapoi 'coffee'. The meaning of
*ma}kwe{i:hsa is extended from earlier use for the hog peanut.
Central Algonquians ate the root of the hog peanut as well as its
seed, and the root of PA *ma}kwehsi:{i and reshaped PCA
*ma}kwe{i:hsa was evidently *ma}kw- 'plant'. However, no one
ate any part of the bean plant other than its seeds, hence the
reshaping to reflect the shape and color of that seed. Basil
Johnston (1978:26) provides a native speaker's popular etymology
of the Ojibwa term as "red navel seed" ( Ojibwa -dis 'navel'),
presumably referring to a colored spot where the bean joins the
pod.
PCA *manta:mina 'maize, corn': Cree mahta:min, Ojibwa
manta:min, Ottawa minta:min, Fox ata:mina, Kickapoo ota:mina,
Shawnee taami, Montagnais matamin, and compare Potawatomi
ndamen 'grain of corn' (McKinney 1998). The root may be
*mantaw- 'supernatural, wonderful' (Pentland 1981:35-37).
PCA *mi:nehke:- 'collect or save seeds or berries for sowing' and
*mi:nehka:n- 'seed for sowing': Algonquin ominikan and
Saguenay Montagnais minikan 'seed for sowing' (semence),
Shawnee mi:n?ke 'she or he saves seeds for next year', and see
Siebert (1975:378) for other cognates.
PCA *se:hse:ka:ntakwa 'black spruce': Montagnais sheshekatiku

16
/}e}ekatukw/ 'black spruce' ('épinette noire'), Algonquin
sesekwandak 'épinette noire' (Lemoine 1909), Rapid Lake
Algonquin se:sse:ka:takw 'spruce' (Piggott and Grafstein 1983);
Swampy Cree sêsêkâhtakw 'white spruce' (Ellis 1995), Ojibwa
sességandag 'white spruce' (Baraga).
PCA *wi:}kopimina 'grain of sweet corn': Algonquin wi}kobimin
'corn harvested immature, cooked, and dried', Ojibwa
wishkobimin, Potawatomi wishp]mn]k (plural), and Fox
wi:}kopimina 'sweet corn'. Compare Saguenay Montagnais
8ichk8piminak 'little grain of wheat or millet' (either
misidentified by Silvy, or showing semantic transfer when the
Montagnais migrated into areas with too short a growing season
for it).
Proto Lake *meskwa:wa:tkwa 'red cedar': Fox me}kwa:wa:hkwa,
Ojibwa miskwaawaak (Nichols and Nyholm), miskwawak
'Juniperus virginiana L.; red cedar' (Densmore 1974:290),
miskwâwak (Baraga), and misqwauwauk (Johnston 1978:27).
Proto Lake *wa:pikweni 'pumpkin': Fox wa:pikoni 'pumpkin',
Shawnee waapikoneehi 'little pumpkin', Potawatomi wapkon
'pumpkin' (McKinney 1998), Kickapoo aapikoni 'pumpkin',
Ojibwa missabigon 'big pumpkin' and Algonkin misabikon
(compounded with *me?[- 'big'). Compare Fox a}ewa:pikone:hi
'little squash'. *wa:pikweni 'pumpkin' is evidently an
(augmentative) e-grade of PCA *wa:pikwani 'flower' (Cree
wa:pikwan, Ojibwa wa:pikon, cf. Ottawa waabgon 'blossom' and
Saguenay Montagnais 8abisk8 'all sorts of flowers').
A.2. Others.

17
PA *-a:tawe: 'speak a foreign language': Fox ina:towe:wa 'she
speaks that language', Shawnee ni}a:wanwa:towe 'I speak
Shawnee' and Miami nähatawiani 'I speak properly'; Eastern
Abenaki and Penobscot ál]n¥t]we 'she speaks Abenaki' (Siebert
1996:640), Western Abenaki alnôdwa 'she or he speaks Indian,
Abenaki', Loup elinant8aian 'que je parle sauvage' (Mathevet,
fol.75), Narragansett eenàntowash 'speak Indian', Passamaquoddy
skicinuwatuwe 'she or he speaks an Indian language, Malecite-
Passamaquoddy', and Massachusett Indianne ¢nnont8waonk 'the
Indian language'.
PA *-i?[esi- 'speak a language': Micmac -i:si (with haplology and
compensatory vowel lengthening), Munsee Delaware -iixs],
Menominee -e:?nese. Examples are: Micmac 'lnuwi:sit 'she or he
speaks Indian', Munsee Delaware h]lÀníixs]w 'she or he speaks a
Native language, Delaware', Unami Delaware hellení:chsu 'she
speaks the language' (Whritenour), and Menominee ese:?nesew
'she or he speaks that language'.
PA *-owe:- 'make such and such a communicative sound', as in
*mayakowe:wa 'she sounds strange': Fox mayakowe:wa, Ojibwa
mayagwe 'she speaks a strange language' (Nichols), Swampy Cree
muyukw»o 'she speaks a foreign language'. Examples from
Hewson (1993) are: PCA *wi:?sakowe:wa 'she's loud, shrill'
(*wi:?sak- 'painful'), PCA *ki:}kowe:wa 'she stops talking or
crying' (*ki:}k- 'cut off'), PCA *melowe:wa 'she speaks well, has a
fine clear voice' (*melw- 'good').
PA *a[ankwa 'star': Ojibwa ]nank, Massachusett anoggs, Western
Abenaki alákws, Arapaho ó§o?, but dialectal PCA *a[a:nkwa
'star': Cree ata:hk, Fox ana:kwa, Menominee ana:h, Shawnee

18
ala:kwa, Miami alangwa, Cheyenne otóhke.
PA *a[ko:ka 'snake' (Siebert 1975:387). Siebert cites only
Eastern cognates, but it was transferred to the frog in the Central
languages: diminutive Ottawa googsenh, and Miami-Illinois
akooka 'frog' (Costa 1992:20).
PA *a:me:- 'fish with a hook and line': Eastern Abenaki añmé
'elle pêche', Western Abenaki ôma and Passamaquoddy ame 'she
fishes', Narraganset aumaÈog 'they fish', aumaûi 'she fishes' and
Massachussett ômaeu 'she fishes with a hook and line'
(backformations from *a:me:wi-lenyiwa 'fisher', as in
Massachussett ómaen 'fisherman'), cf. Western Abenaki ah-
ômawawinno 'fisher'. Compare also nominal *a:ma:ni 'fishhook':
Unami Delaware aman 'a fishhook' (Whritenour 1995), and
haplogic Massachussett ôm. In addition, the corresponding
medial is attested in: Munsee Delaware weendáameew and Unami
Delaware wendám¼n 'fish with a hook and line', and Micmac
ekwitamet 'she fishes'. This verb replaces PA *kwetk- of the
same meaning (see Siebert 1975 item 85).
PA *alehtwiya 'fish spear': Menominee ani:htiy, Ojibwa anitt,
Saguenay Montagnais anit8i 'harpoon à castor', Micmac
l]t(xa:mun) 'spear', and compare Massachusett (anneg)anuht(uk)
'fish spear', a compound with *e:nik/ahkw 'fish spear' (Penobscot
énikahkw, Western Abenaki ]nigakw 'spear').
PA *apine:ni 'abiding place': Unami Delaware achpin¼n 'abiding
place', Saguenay Montagnais appinan 'l'aire de la cabane', cf.
Plains Cree kistapina:n 'Prince Albert' (etymologically,
'settlement'), with kist- 'great'. Based on PA *api- 'sit, be there,
dwell'. Compare diminutive Ojibwa abinass 'the place in a lodge

19
allotted to a family' (Baraga). PA *apinay- 'seat, sitting place'
plus an ending *-eni of uncertain meaning (perhaps 'someone's' or
the demonstrative *(e)ni 'there').
PA *awé:m- (the bare verb stem) is attested directly by Illinois
nita8ema 'he is my relative' ('il est mon parent') and
nita8entimina 'we are relatives, allies' ('nous sommes parents,
alliés', Gravier). Usually there's an attributive initial, making PA
*awé:m- a medial. For example, the Shawnees innovated the
stem *elenawe(:m-) 'ordinary relatives' (*elen- 'ordinary' plus *-
awé:m 'group member'): Shawnee hilenawe 'person, Indian',
nitelenaweema 'my people, my kin, my relative'. Nominalizations
meaning 'relative' of the bare verb stem have a variety of endings:
Old Delaware dawemawiân 'relation', Eastern Ojibwa-Ottawa
ndawemaa 'my relative' (Rhodes 1985:102) and perhaps Miami-
Illinois nincaweema 'my near relative' (a dubious form, see Costa
1999:51), Saguenay Montagnais 8ta8emat8in 'parenté' (Silvy
1974:114), and Miami-Illinois nintaweemaakana 'my relative'
(Costa 1999:49). Perhaps its original form was PA
*netawé:ma:wa, identical to 'my cross sex sibling'.
PA *{]kwala 'frog': Unami Delaware Tschkwall 'a frog', Munsee
Delaware chkwál 'frog', Loup chig8al 'grenoüille', Western
Abenaki c]gwal 'frog', diminutive Passamaquoddy c]kw]ls 'frog',
and Micmac sxol{ 'frog' (with distant metathesis of s and {).
Compare PA *ma:[k(atky)- 'toad'. Compare also Munsee
Delaware káaxkashii-chkwál 'toad', and Micmac txol{ 'toad'.
PA *{o:kaliwa 'blackbird': Unami Delaware tschókwali, Western
Abenaki cog]l(]skw), Massachusett chógan(èuck) 'blackbird(s)',
and nondiminutive Menominee tu:kani?.

20
PA *e[a:nko:m- 'have as a thither relative, have as a relative-like
associate; have as such a relative': Shawnee ela:ko:m- 'be related',
and la:ko:ti:we 'affinal and consanguineal relationship', Old
Unami Delaware elangom»t 'friend, relative' (Zeisberger, in
Whritenour 1995), Unami Delaware nkwí:s e:lankú:mak 'my
nephew' (literally, 'my relative who is like my son'; Goddard
1973:46), Passamaquoddy lakutu]k 'they're related', Eastern
Abenaki nederañg8•mañ 'je l'ai pour parent', Western Abenaki
alôgomôm]k 'relative, someone is related to her', Massachusett
wuttinnunkumôin 'a kinsman of a female', Loup
kitelangontemenen 'nous sommes... parents' (Mathevet, fol.46),
Mahican t¼nn»ngºm» 'friend, relation', Munsee Delaware
laangóondÀwak 'they're related to each other', and Unami
langúndoak 'they're friends' (Zeisberger, in Whritenour 1995).
(pre-)PA e[a:nko:m- consists of initial *e[- 'like' plus *-a:nkÞ
plus the final *-em 'have', *-twi derives reciprocals, and (pre-)PA
*neta:nkwa consists of the prefix *net- 'my' plus *-a:nkÞ and
animate singular *-a.
PA *kape:- 'disembark, cross from a boat to the shore':
Menominee kap£:w 'she disembarks from a boat, descends',
Massachusett kuhpéau 'she comes to land, lands from a boat', and
reshaped Cree kapa:w 'she lands' and Ojibwa gabaa 'she
disembarks'. Compare Shawnee kape:- 'cross a stream' and
Miami käpä}sinani 'I go across', and possibly Kickapoo kapei 'all
the way'.
PA *ki:}o?[wa 'sun': Menominee ke:so?, Arapaho hiisíís, Atsina
?íísíis, Cheyenne é}e?he, Passamaquoddy kisuhs, Penobscot
kìsohs, Western Abenaki kizos, Delaware ki:}o:x, Mahican
ki:so:x, Loup kiz8s, Virginia keshowse, but Proto Lake

21
*ki:}e?[wa 'sun': Fox ki:}eswa, Potawatomi kis]s:, Ojibwa ki:siss,
Shawnee ki:}§wa. Miami kilswa shows distant assimilation of *}
to *[ BEFORE the merger of the 6 clusters to Proto Lake *HS,
and thus is evidence that Proto Lake had dialects. Similar distant
assimilation in Ojibwa-Potawatomi takes place AFTER the
merger. See Siebert (1975:391), and Haas (1967) for data and
alternative analyses.
PA *kwe[ki:wa 'she goes back, comes back, returns': Munsee
Delaware kwáxkiiw, Massachusett qushk¼u.
PA *ma:[k(atky)- 'toad': Western Abenaki maska 'toad', Eastern
Abenaki moskeké 'a toad, Loup mask'chas 'crapaud', and
Massachusett mohmoskuhteasu 'frog'. Loup and Massachusett
probably added diminutive *-ehs. Compare PA *{]kwala 'frog'.
PA may have had reduplicated variants of its terms for 'frog' and
'toad', as suggested by Unami Delaware Tschachkwáll beside
Tschkwall 'a frog', and Western Abenaki mamaska beside maska
'toad'.
PA *natwepaliwa 'he goes on a war party': Fox natopaniwa and
Cree natopayiw. Compare conjunct participle Unami Delaware
netopalitschik 'warriors (Whritenour), literally, 'they who go on a
war party', with initial change of *a to *e:, and nominalized
Algonquin nandopaniwini 'a warrior seeking captives'.
Etymologically, the term means 'go seek (someone)', implying an
enemy.
PA *ne?[énsa: 'my older brother' (vocative): Unami Delaware
xá:nsa: (a-grade), Arapaho néísoh(o?)óó, Miami-Illinois
hseenhsa. PCA *ne?[énse: 'my older brother': Fox nesese, Plains
Cree niste:se:, Cheyenne na?nè(ha).

22
PA *nekya 'my mother': Fox nekya, Miami ninkya, Potawatomi
nky], Shawnee nekiya, Virginian neck, Nanticoke nik. Compare
Algonquin ningiban 'my dead mother', and okin 'her mother',
and reduplicated Munsee Delaware nk]k.
PA *nekyah[a 'my mother': Menominee nekiah, Narragansett
nókace, Loup and Massachusett n8kas, Blackfoot niksíssta.
Compare Ottawa n]nka}}i from pseudo-PA *nekyah}iwa 'the one
who is my mother'.
PA *nena:pe:wema 'my outsider husband': Cree nina:pe:m,
Menominee nena:piam, Blackfoot nináápiima, Miami
ninaapeema, Ojibwa ninaapem 'my husband', cf. Fox kena:pe:ma
'thy husband', and Naskapi unaapaama 'her husband'). Directly
attested only for PCA, it's PA antiquity is assured by its
derivative PA *ni:ta:pe:wa 'my fellow husband'.
PA *netawé:ma:wa 'my cross sex sibling' can be analyzed as
consisting of a theoretical stem *(t)awé:m- 'be a friend or relative'
plus the nominalizer *-a:wa 'undergoer'. *(t)awé:m- in turn
consists of *awé:m-, and perhaps *t- 'be' (uncertain because the
prefix ends in *t). The same second element also turns up in
Munsee Delaware wi:tawe:m-, originally meaning 'live with, be
with', but now restricted to the meaning 'be married to' (Goddard
1973:48, citing Brinton and Anthony 1889). The literal meaning
must have been 'have someone as a fellow member of one's own
group, be in a group with him' (*wi:t-...-em- 'do X with him, be
his fellow X', as in *wi:tapim- 'sit with him' beside *api- 'sit',
leaving *-awé:m- 'group member'). There's also a cognate Yurok
verb stem to:?m- 'be together in a group'. As in Algonquian, a
nominalization of it, to:?mer, means 'friend or relative'. *awe:

23
gives Y o: (Proulx 1984:186), as in Yurok no:rew- 'be pretty'
beside Fox nawe:n- (presumably from PA *nawe:lw-).
Consequently, the etymology of the PA term for a cross sex
sibling is 'the one who is together with me in my own group'.
PA *neto:te:ma 'my unrelated child-in-law's father' (literally, 'the
one who's a member of my regional group'): Penobscot n-dodem
'my child-in-law's father' (Sapir 1990:519), Malecite n'-t¢-dem
and Micmac n'-tu-tem 'my child's father-in-law' (Morgan
1871:377), Penobscot n]totem 'my acquaintance or friend of
another totemic group related through marriage to a person of my
totemic group' (Siebert 1982:129), Penobscot n]totem 'my white
friend of the opposite sex' (Siebert 1982:130), Passamaquoddy
ntútem 'my white male friend' (especially, 'boy-friend'),
ntútemìskw 'my white female friend' (especially, 'girl-friend')
(LeSourd 1982), Micmac ntutem 'my gentleman friend' (DeBlois
1996) and 'ntoot¶m 'my friend of another nation' (Rand 1972).
In Central Algonquian there is: Fox neto:te:ma 'my sibling', Cree
nito:te:m 'my kinsman', Menominee neto:t£:m 'my totemic
ancestor'.
PA *neto:te:ma had a core etymological meaning of 'prototypical
member of my natal regional group', from the underlying verb
*o:te:- 'live together, be a household'. Examples are: Menominee
eno:t£:w 'she dwells so' (with initial *e[- 'so, thus'), a:n£hkom
eno:t£:w 'she dwells along with other people' (a:n£hkom 'in
company'), sa:ketot£:how 'he moves his household out of a place'
(sa:ket- 'out of a place'), meno:t£:w 'he partners with someone',
lit. 'dwells well with someone' (*melw- 'good'), Passamaquoddy
petute 'she moves her household into X' (*pye:t- 'toward the
point of reference'), and Cree ito:te:si- 'be with one's family'

24
(Ellis 1995).
Ideally a PA couple's child-in-law's parents were their own cross
sex siblings, and thus each one was either ego's cross sex sibling
or same sex sibling-in-law. Algonquians tend to use the closest
kin term available for a referent (presumably it would imply a
denial of intimacy to use a more distant one). Therefore, when
*neto:te:ma was used to refer to a PA child-in-law's parents, the
marriage which created this relationship had to have been an
irregular one where the referents were unrelated persons (or
distant relatives), not ego's cross sex sibling or same sex sibling-
in-law.
Contrastive terminology of this sort survived into Ojibwa.
Landes (1969:11) lists two alternate usages for a child-in-law's
parents among the Emo Ojibwas: (1) the terms for ego's cross sex
sibling and same sex sibling-in-law, and (2) ndIn'da.wa. from
*netenta:wa:wa, the Central Algonquian replacement for PA
*neto:te:ma. In origin at least, usage (1) would presumably have
been for relatives by regular cross cousin marriage, usage (2) for
relatives by irregular marriages, who were thus unrelated. 3 Even
in PA times, such unrelated persons living in one's own group
would of course have been excellent partners for secondary
marriages, particularly if a spouse's same sex sibling were
unavailable.
PA *ni:ta:pe:wa 'my fellow husband', literally 'my fellow male':
Micmac nitap 'my friend', Narragansett nétop 'my friend',
3
Landes doesn't desc ribe any difference between the tw o usages at Em o, but when
she describes the usage of th e closely related Prairie Potawato mis, who ha d recently
banned cross cousin marriage, usage 1 had been replaced by non-kin terms meaning
'fellow old woman' and 'fellow old man' (Landes 1970:331-332).

25
Virginia netap 'my dear friend' and Penobscot nít¥pe 'my friend'
(Siebert 1975), Western Abenaki nitôba 'my friend', cf.
Passamaquoddy witapiyil 'his friend'. Landes (1970:336) says
that, among the Michigan Potawatomis and Ojibwas, men
married to sisters "use the near-brother, teasing term ni?dab 'my
opposite number, you in the same spot as I'". The Montagnais
and Naskapis use the same term in polyandrous relationships:
Montagnais uitapeua 'his wife's second husband or her lover' ('le
deuxième mari, l'amant de sa femme'), Naskapi wiitaapaawa 'his
wife's ex-husband, his girl-friend's ex-boy-friend'.
PA *ni:te}ya:na 'my sibling': Menominee ni:tesyan 'my parallel
sibling', Cree ni:tisa:n 'my full brother or sister'. This term is
composed of *-i:t 'fellow', plus a grade 2 by-form of *-e{ye:
'round body, belly, birth', and regular nominalization with *-n,
which causes a preceding *e: to change to *a:. (PA *{ before *y is
from Proto Algic *t, whose grade 2 is *{, which gives PA *}.)
PA *no:h[a: 'my father' (vocative): Unami Delaware núxa:, Loup
n8ssen, Arapaho neixóó, Miami-Illinois noohsa.
PA *o:te:na(yi) (obviative and plural *o:te:nayali, locative
*o:te:ne:nki, diminutive *o:te:ne:hsi) '(ego's) regional group
encampment', later 'town, village': Munsee Delaware ootéenay
'town, land' (plural ootéenayal, locative ootéeneeng, diminutive
ootéeneesh), Western Abenaki odana (plural odanaal, locative
odanak, diminutive odanasiz), Penobscot ótene, Passamaquoddy
uten (uteniyil 'towns', locative utenek, diminutive utenehsis, but
Malecite otensis), Loup 8tenaix 'villages' (Mathevet, folio 19),
Massachusett otanash 'towns' (locative othannat). This noun
consists of a verb stem *o:te:- 'live together' plus a nominalizing

26
ending *-nay, as in PA *apinayi 'bed, couch': Munsee Delaware
ßpí:nay and locative ßpí:ne:nk, and Miami pinaii 'bed', diminutive
Eastern Miami pinänsi 'sofa', and Fox otapinayi 'her couch,
sleeping place in the lodge' (Goddard 1983:369, 372), and
Algonquin apinâs 'place occupé' (Lemoine 1909), from PA *api-
'sit, be located'. The final syllable in PA *apinayi has evidently
been analogically restored from plural and obviative forms, since a
final sonorant plus short vowel dropped in pre-PA (see Proulx
1982a).
The more northerly non-Eastern languages evidently analogically
restored uncontracted *aye in diminutives (*o:te:nayehsi) and
locatives (*o:te:nayenki), then later applied their productive rules
of contraction to it (*aye ---> *a:), producing for example Ojibwa
ootenaank 'in town' and diminutive ootenaans (Nichols and
Nyholm 1995), Cree och»nas 'village' (Faries and Watkins).
Compare Ojibwa apina:ss 'the place in the lodge allotted to a
family' (Goddard 1983:372, fn.16). Later still, they evidently
rebuilt their plurals and obviatives on the singular and, since the
most common source of *a: in locatives and diminutives is from
contraction of *awe, analogically created a new singular in final *w
(Cree o:te:naw 'town', Montagnais utenau 'ville, village', Ojibwa
o:te:nawan 'towns'). In the more southerly ones, the obscure
ending of PA *o:te:nayi is often replaced by productive *-wen
'verbal abstract' (Fox o:te:weni, Shawnee hote:we, and, with
contraction and prefixed *melw- 'good', possibly Miami minotäni
'town'), a replacement which the more northerly ones reserve for
*apinayi (Cree apiwin 'seat, settee', Ojibwa 'habitation'). A
shorter version of *-wen which regularly causes the opening of a
preceding *e:, productive *-n 'verbal abstract', may account for the
forms in two other languages (Micmac utan 'village', Potawatomi

27
?otan 'town').
PA *o:te:na(yi) has a competitor, *enta:weni 'satellite camp'.
PA *petahe:- 'catch (usually fish), entrap, snare, hook': Munsee
Delaware ptáheew 'she catches something with a hook', Mahican
astam np¶tthᢠnamããs 'I didn't catch any fish', Western Abenaki
btha 'she catches, gets something'. Compare Passamaquoddy
ptihike 'she catches a fish', ptahmak 'they (dual) hook fish', and
Massachussett puttahwhau 'she entraps'.
PA *}amá:kani 'spear': Fox }ama:kani, Blackfoot samakinn-
'lance, spear, machete', and e-grade Ojibwa zhimaagan 'lance'
(Nichols), Saguenay Montagnais chimegan 'épée', Naskapi
asimaakin 'spear', Cree usimakun 'spear' (Faries and Watkins).
PA *wa:nko:m- 'have as a relative from the other moiety': Cree
wa:hko:m- 'be related to someone', Ojibwa waangoom- 'adopt
someone' (Nichols), Cheyenne vóo/hesto- 'be a relative'
(Glenmore and Leman 1984:82-83) evidently consisting of
*wa:nkw”- plus Cheyenne -hesto, as in the independent term for
a man's male friend: tséhe-vésené/hesto/vestse beside dependent
na-vésene 'my male friend (man speaking)' (Alford and Leman
1976:43). Compare Shawnee niwaakoma 'I know her' (with short
o). The nominalized form of the stem was probably
*newa:nko:ma:wa 'my (affinal) relative' (Cree niwa:hko:ma:kan,
Micmac no:k'maw). The nominalizer is opaque in the Micmac
term, while the Cree one is highly productive and specifically
known to replace *-a:w in some cases (Wolfart 1980:287-289).
Also, compare Unami Delaware ndelangomawunna 'our friends'
(Zeisberger, in Whritenour 1995), the non-initial in Menominee
we:ta:hkosew 'she works or is affiliated with a group', and

28
Blackfoot waahko?sskaa 'give gifts ... to parents-in-law (men
only)'. This stem begins in the empty initial *w(e)- (see
Bloomfield 1946:section 103).
PA *(w)a:pikwes... 'mouse': Eastern Abenaki añbig8séss8,
Penobscot ¥ píkwsehso, Western Abenaki wôbikwsos, Virginia
Algonquian apegwas, Munsee Delaware aapíikw]s, Unami
Delaware achpókw¼s, cf. Massachusett mish/abuhquas, Cheyenne
hóhkeehe. Diminutive PA *(w)a:pikwesínsa 'mouse': Plains Cree
a:pikosi:s, Naskapi aapikusiis, Montagnais apikushish, Loup
8ambig8sis 'souris', and Micmac apik{i:{/ apuk{i:{ (with
diminutive s ---> {).
PA *wi:{o:hk- 'help': Western Abenaki wijoke 'she helps',
Passamaquoddy wicuhkem- TA 'help', Munsee Delaware
wiichóohuweew 'she participates'. With *t for *{, there is also
Fox wi:to:hka:sowa 'she helps, takes part', and Ojibwa
wi:to:kka:so- 'help, be sociable, keep company with' (Hewson
1993:238).
PA *wi:law- 'rich, wealthy': Unami wiláwi 'rich' (Whritenour
1995), Western Abenaki wilawigid 'the wealthy one',
Massachusett wenauwetu 'she's rich' and winnaytue 'rich man...
next in degree to a Sachem'. While this lexical item may date
back to PA, the meaning probably developed later and diffused
among the languages that share it.
PCA *-ita:{i- (Cree pimita:cimo:w 'she crawls', Menominee
peme:ta:cekow 'she crawls or drives on, along, past').
PCA *-me?tekwa 'bow': Cheyenne ma?tahke and Arapaho bééte?
'bow', Menominee -m£?tek and Shawnee -me?tekwa 'gun, bow'.

29
This is an animate and often dependent counterpart of *me?tekwi
'stick'. Cognate Fox mehtekwa means 'arrow'; the Fox term for
'bow' is mehte:ha.
PCA *aleh}i-lenyiwa 'ordinary person, Central Algonquian': Fox
ane}ineni:ha 'common man', Northern Ojibwa ani}}inini
'ordinary man (self-designation)' (Goddard citing Evelyn Todd,
in Rogers 1978:768), Cree ayi:siyiniw 'human being, Indian',
Montagnais arichirini8 'homme, peuple, nation', cf. a-grade Cree
ayahciyiniw 'Blackfoot'.
PCA *ali:kehsa or *alekehsa 'frog': Northern Ojibwa ani:kis,
Plains Cree ayîkis, Swampy Cree un¼k(is) /ani:kis/; Montaganis
alik, Naskapi iyik, Illinois arekisa 'small dark frog'.
PCA *{i:lawé:m- 'be closely related to someone': Fox {i:nawe:m-
, Kickapoo ciinaeem-, Montagnais tshiluem-, Illinois
nitchira8ema 'this is my close relative' ('c'est mon proche parent',
Gravier), Algonquin tcinäwem- 'être l'allié de, être lié par
consanguinité avec quelqu'un', and Saguenay Montagnais
nitchira8emau 'I'm related to her or him' ('je lui suis parent').
The etymology of PCA *{i:l- is unknown, but Illinois
nitchira8ema 'this is my close relative' ('c'est mon proche parent')
beside nita8ema 'he is my relative' ('il est mon parent', Gravier)
implies a meaning of 'close'. Since kinship reflected residence,
'close' here probably had spatial implications (coresidence). PCA
(?) *ne{i:lawé:ma:kana 'my close (coresident) relative':
Montagnais utshiluemakana '(her or his) relative'.
PCA *e[awé:m- 'be related thither to someone, be like related to
someone': Fox inawe:m-, Ojibwa inawe:m- (Nichols and Nyholm
1995, and with cognates in Ottawa, and in Eastern and Northern

30
Ojibwa) and Menominee ena:w£:m-, with initial *e[- 'thither,
like that, of that sort'. PCA *nete[awé:ma:kana 'my relative-like
associate': Menominee net£:nawema:kanak 'my relatives' and
Emo Ojibwa ndinawema:gan 'my relative' (Landes 1969:11).
PCA *enta:weni 'satellite camp', literally 'there where people live'
(*enta:- 'live there' plus productive *-wen 'verbal abstract'):
Northern Ojibwa (Lansdowne House) taawin 'dwelling, town'
(Sugarhead 1996:144), Woods Cree ita'win 'a place, a town or
city' (Faries and Watkins), Moose Cree ihtâwin- 'village,
settlement' (Ellis 1995); Montagnais itaun 'trapping territory'
(Drapeau); and Eastern Cree i:htawin 'town' (R. Preston
1980:41).
PCA *kape:h}i- 'camp overnight, stay over in a place': Algonquin
kapê}i-, Ojibwa gabeshi- (Nichols and Nyholm), Cree kape:si-,
Saguenay Montagnais nikapechin 'I make a cabin' ('je cabane').
The stem is *kape:- 'disembark' (root *kap- 'out of a medium,
such as water'), which implies the overnight camp of a canoe
party.
PCA *ke?twike:- 'plant, sow seeds': Plains Cree kistike:-, Ojibwe
gitige- (Nichols and Nyholm), Saguenay Montagnais nikistigan 'I
work my field'. *ke?twike:- is nominalized as *ke?twika:ni 'where
one plants (garden)': Plains Cree kistika:n 'garden, field, farm,
arable land' (Wolfart and Ahenakew 1998), Fox kehtika:ni 'farm,
field', Kickapoo kehtikaani 'garden', Saguenay Montagnais
kistigan 'garden, field', Montagnais tshishtikan 'fenced garden,
enclosure', Algonquin kitikan 'garden', Ojibwa gitigaan 'garden'
(Nichols and Nyholm).
PCA *kenwe:pyikwa 'snake': Cree kene:pik, Ojibwa kine:pikw,

31
Menominee kenu:pik, Miami-Illinois kineepikwa (Hewson 1993,
Costa 1992:22). Etymologically, the term means 'long water
tailed-animal' (*kenw- 'long', the link vowel *-e:-, *-epy 'water',
*-ikw 'animal with prominent tail'). The usual reconstruction of
this term lacks the *y, but the cognates are compatible
phonologically with either is presence or absence, and the
morphology requires its presence if the etymology is correct.
Despite the association with water, the term commonly refers to
terrestrial species. Compare PCA *kenwe:pyikwame:kwa 'eel':
Menominee kenu:pikwam£:k, Miami-Illinois kineepikwameekwa
(Costa 1992:22), literally, 'snake fish'.
PCA *ki:}k- 'be an escarpment, a steep place': Fox
ki:}ka:hki:wiwi 'it's a steep hill', Ojibwa giishkadinaa 'it's a cliff,
steep bank', Plains Cree ki:skata:wahka:w 'it's a steep river bank',
Naskapi chiiskaaskwaayaaw 'it's a steep wooded slope',
chiiskitaauhkaaw 'it's a steep, high sand bank', Menominee
ke:skek£n 'it's cut off by natural shape, comes to a cut off end',
Montagnais /tsi}kap]}kaw/ 'it's a rocky escarped summit (somet
rocheux escarpé)', /tsi}ka}kweyak]maw/ 'it's a lake situated at the
foot of an escarpment covered with big trees'.
PCA *me?tekwa:pya 'bow', literally 'animate stick string': Ojibwa
mitigwaab (Nichols and Nyholm 1995), Miami mitäkopa, and
optional Menominee m£?tekuap 'bow' and Shawnee -me?tekwa:p
'gun, bow' (Pearson 1995).4
PCA *meta:h[wi 'ten': Shawnee meta?§wi, Fox meta:swi, Ojibwa
mita:sswi, Algonquin mitaswi, Moose Cree mitâht and Naskapi
4
This last is homophonous with 'bowstring' in Menominee, but Ojibwa and
Miami retain PA *a?ta:pyi (Ojibwa achaabiin 'bowstrings', Mia mi ninatiapi 'my
bowstring').

32
mitaasi- in mitaasi-mitinuw 'one hundred' (literally, 'ten tens').
PCA *meta:tah[wi 'ten':5 Menominee meta:tah, Swampy Cree
mita:taht, Arapaho béteetox (with vowel harmony), Atsina
bítootos, Miami matatswi, Potawatomi mdatso (McKinney
1998), and Cheyenne mahtóhtohn- in mahtóhtohnó?e 'one
hundred' (literally, 'ten tens'). With haplology, there is also:
PCA *mwe?[awinamwa 'she covets, desires it': Plains Cree
mustawinam 'she desires it' (Lacombe 1874) and Cree
moostowinum 'she covets it' (Faries and Watkins), Menominee
mo?nawenam 'she admires it', and, reshaped with *-e:lentam 'by
mental action, thought', Ojibwa misawendam 'she desires it'
(Nichols and Nyholm). The Lake languages dissimilate *mw to
*m.
PCA *mwe?toh[e:wa 'she merely walks': Cree mostohte:w,
Menominee mo?to:hn£w 'she walks afoot, having no mount',
Ojibwa mitossé 'she walks' (Baraga), Fox mehtose:neeniwa
'human being, man', and Kickapoo mehtozeenenia 'Indian person'
from *mwe?toh[e:welenyiwa 'person who merely walks'. The
Lake languages dissimilate *mw to *m.
PCA *mye:wehkani 'war path': Ojibwa mi:kan 'road', mi:kanens
'path' (Nichols and Nyholm 1995), Arapaho bóoó 'road'
(Goddard 1974:114), and Cheyenne meo?o 'road' (plural
5
The PA term was *metala(n-) and e-grade *metela(n-) 'ten': Penobscot m]Ýt ala,
Mahican mtánit, Unami D elaware tél]n, Passamaquo ddy mt]Ûl n, Micmac mt'ln. It
survives in some compounds in Central Algonquian, e.g., Ojibwa naani/midana
'forty' (literally 'four tens'), Miami nisso/matäna 'thirty', Naskapi mitaasi-mitinuw
and Saguenay Montagn ais mitass8/mitanau and Montagnais peiku/mitashu/mitalnu
(literall y, 'one te n tens') 'one hu ndred'.

33
meonotse), beside similar but noncognate Cree me:skanaw and
Menominee mi:hekan 'road'. *mye:wehkani is regularly derived
from *mye:wehke:- 'go on the war path' (Menominee mi:hk£w
'she leads a war party'), consisting of PA *mye:w- 'path, road' plus
*-ehk 'make, substitute' and the intransitive final *-e:, and so
literally 'go on a substitute or specially made trail'.
PCA *naha:nkapi- 'live with one's parents-in-law': Menominee
noha:hkapew 'he lives with his wife's parents' (ape:w 'she or he's
there, at home'), Cree naha:hkapiw 'he lives with his wife's
parents'.
PCA *ne?[énse: 'my older brother' (vocative): Fox nesese, Plains
Cree niste:se:, Cheyenne na?nè(ha).
PCA *ne?tamon}ya:na 'first born child': Cree nistamosân
(Lacombe), Menominee nen£:?tamu:hsyan, Ojibwa nitamoozhaan
(Nichols and Nyholm), Algonquin nitamonjan, Naskapi
niistimusaan, cf. Montagnais lishtamushan, and Cheyenne
ná?tomoohnóhtet. Composed of *ne?tam- 'first' plus deverbal *-
on}ya:na 'someone born, product of birth' from *no:n}ye:- 'give
birth'.
PCA *nekya:wiya 'my mother': Cree nika:wiy, Saguenay
Montagnais n8ga8i, Arapaho néinoo, cf. Cheyenne tséhe-
}ketowestse, and Naskapi ukaawiya 'her or his mother.
PCA *nena:pe:wema 'my outsider husband' (see PA
*nena:pe:wema).
PCA *neta:netko-pi:{ika:na 'my great-grandchild, descendant':
Menominee neta:n£hkopecekan, Ojibwa nindaanikobijigan 'my

34
great grand-child, great grand-parent' (Nichols), nind
anikobidjigan (Baraga), ndaankobjigan 'my great grandchild, my
connection, chain link' (Rhodes), nind anikobidjigan 'mon
arrière-neveu' (Lemoine).' Compare Prairie Potawatomi
ya:nKoptc']g]n 'my great grand-child, great-grandfather' and
Forest Potawatomi 'ndankobitcig]n 'my great grand-father'
(Landes 1970:326). In contrast, the only exactly cognate 'great
grandparent' terms are within Ojibwa, and only for a great
grandfather (the Ojibwas are patrilineal). Compare: Menominee
a:t£h nem£hsoh, Shawnee nitan?kawi-nime?}oom?§a, and Ojibwa
nind anike-nimishomiss (Baraga), ndanike nimi}omis (Landes)
'my great grandfather', nind anike nimicômis 'mon aieul'
(Lemoine); nind anike-nokomis 'my great grandmother'
(Baraga), but ndanihko nokomis 'my great grandmother'
(Landes).
PCA *netenta:wa:wa 'my child-in-law's parent': Menominee
net£:htawa:w, Cree nitihta:wa:w, Ojibwa inindawaa (Nichols and
Nyholm, short a unexplained), Emo Ojibwa ndin'da:wa: (Landes
1969:11), Prairie Potawatomi n'dI?'da:wa (Landes 1970:331) and
Algonquin -indawa (Lemoine, under parent). This term can be
analyzed as consisting of a theoretical stem *(en)ta:- 'dwell there'
plus *-aw 'benefactive' (see Proulx 1985:reconstructions 222 and
188) plus the ending for what Bloomfield (1946:sec.61) calls
"nouns of undergoer" (*-a:wa). Compare: *wekwi?seme:wa 'she
has him as a son', and *wekwi?sema:wa 'one who is a son'.
Consequently, the etymology of the PCA term for a child-in-
law's parent is something like 'the one who dwells there (in a
satellite camp) for me'.
PCA *ni:{i-naha:nk- 'my fellow son-in-law living with in-laws':

35
Cree ni:ci-naha:hkis 'my brother-in-law (man speaking)', cf.
Menominee owe:c-noha:hkem£w 'a fellow brother-in-law; one
of two or more men who have married into the same family'.
PCA *ni:hka:na 'my same-sex friend or acquaintance': Fox
ni:hka:na 'my male friend (man speaking)', Shawnee wi?ka:nali
and Miami wiihkaanali (Costa 1991:43) 'his friend', Kickapoo
niihkaana 'my male friend or brother-in-law (man speaking)',
Menominee ne:hka:n 'my fellow participant in a rite', diminutive
ne:hka:h 'my brother (man speaking)', Michigan Potawatomi
ni?Kan 'my ceremonial friend (of any sex) or friend's spouse',
diminutive Prairie Potawatomi ni?ka:?n£ 'my brother (man
speaking)' (Landes 1970:327, 337), Ojibwa niihkaan(is) 'my
brother (man speaking, ritual use)' (Nichols and Nyholm 1995),
Arapaho neyóo and Atsina ny¤Û¤ 'my brother-in-law (man
speaking)'; Montagnais nikan 'mon amy' (Hallowell 1932), 'ma
belle soeur dit la femme' (Fabvre 1970), Traditional Cheyenne
navèò?o 'my non-coresident step- or half sister (woman
speaking)', Dog Soldier Cheyenne 'my wife of my husband's
brother or comrade' (transcription from Glenmore and Leman
1984, meanings from Moore 1988). Judging by dictionary
entries, the term is not limited to ritual use in most of the
Ojibwa dialects, though in most of them it has competition as the
term for a man's brother.
PCA *no:h[e: 'my father' (vocative): Fox ano:se, Potawatomi
nos:], Shawnee no?§e(hi), Menominee nohn£(?).
PCA *si:nsepa:tkwi 'maple sugar': Fox si:sepa:hkwi 'sugar',
Kickapoo siisepaahkwi 'sugar, sugar beet', and derivative Ojibwa
ziinzibaakwad 'maple sugar' (Nichols), Algonquin sînzipakwat

36
'sucre', Cree sesepa'skwut 'sugar' beside sesepaskwuta'tik 'maple'
(Faries and Watkins), cf. Saguenay Montagnais nichichipak8nan
'I melt snow in a pail', chichipak8nab8i 'snow beverage',
Montagnais shinipashkutuapui 'il (elle) fait du sirop d'érable'.
Both the root, *si:n- 'squeeze' and the final *-a:tkw 'hardwood
tree' suggest that the original meaning was maple sugar.
Evidently, the Saguenay Montagnais were pulling Silvy's leg.
PCA *te:nte:wa 'large frog or toad': Cree te:hte:w 'green toad,
frog', Menominee t£:ht£w 'bullfrog', Ojibwa te:nte: 'very big
toad', and Saguenay Montagnais tete8 'espèce de grosse
grenouille'. Compare Algonquin tanênde 'grenouille', and
Upland Proto Lake *to:nto:wa 'bullfrog'.
PCA *weke?{ita:wa 'hero, brave warrior': Ojibwa ogichidaa
'warrior' (Nichols and Nyholm), Plains Cree okihcita:w 'warrior,
member of the Warrior society', Potawatomi wk]{:tak 'members
of the Warrior society' (Clifton 1978:732). Evidently it was a
pseudo-TI verb of possession in *we-, whose etymology was
something like 'he has greatness' (*ke?{i- 'big').6
PCA *wema:[katky- 'small frog or toad': Menominee
oma:hkahkow 'frog', Ojibwa omakakii 'frog' (Nichols, but Baraga
also glosses it 'toad'), Naskapi umaaskutis 'small frog'. Compare
Ojibwa babiig-omakakii 'toad', Menominee papi:kwahkah 'toad'.
Proto Lake *}enkwa:tkwa 'evergreen: especially white pine, red
cedar': Ojibwa zhingwaak 'white pine' (Nichols and Nyholm
1995), Algonquin }ingwak 'pine' (Lemoine), a-grade
6
Goddard (1978b:587) suggests that this was a loan from Dakota aki{ita, but this
wouldn't explain the consonant cluster (*h{) nor the final w in Cree. More likely
this is a loan in the other direction, from Southwestern Ojibwa into Siouan.

37
Wikwemikong Odawa }ankwa:kkw 'pine' (Piggott and Grafstein
1983), Lac Seul Ojibwa zhingwaak 'red or white pine' (Kenny
2000:27), and Fox }ekwa:hkwa 'pine'; and Kickapoo sekwaahkwa
'cedar tree, fir' and Illinois ching8ac8a 'red cedar'. Compare late
Proto Lake *meskwa:wa:tkwa 'red cedar'.
Proto Lake *{i:paya:poswa 'Ruler of the Dead' (Nenabush's
younger brother): Fox {i:paya:poswa, Potawatomi {ipyapos: 'twin
brother of wisk:e and guardian of the afterlife' (Clifton 1978:736),
Ojibwa {i:paya:pos.
Proto Lake *-o:te: 'crawl, creep' is found, for example, in Proto
Lake *pemo:te:wa 'she crawls or creeps' (Fox pemo:te:wa, Ojibwa
pimo:te:, Algonquin pimôte); *keto:te:wa 'she crawls or creeps
out' (Fox keto:te:wa, Ojibwa kito:te:, Potawatomi ktote); cf.
Shawnee no:leto:teha 'I made her crawl'.
Proto Lake *(w)a:pikolo:... 'mouse': diminutive Fox
wa:pikono:ha, Kickapoo aapikonooha, and Shawnee wa:pikolo?§a,
reduplicated Ojibwa wa:wa:pikono:{i, cf. Potawatomi
papkonoshkwe?.
Proto Lake *a:hpawe:- 'have a bad dream': Fox a:hpawe:wa 'she
dreams', Ojibwa a:hpawe: 'have an ominous dream', Shawnee
*ha?powe:we 'dream'. The unmodified PA root is *paw-, as in
Ojibwa bawadjige 'I dream' (Baraga), and Micmac pewat 'she
dreams' (participle conjunct, with initial change).
Proto Lake *kahki- 'hide, conceal' is found, for example, in Proto
Lake *kahki[- 'hide, conceal (someone)': Fox kahkine:wa,
Kickapoo kahkinea, Ottawa gkinaad 'she hides him', and Shawnee
nikkila 'I hide her'.

38
Proto Lake *meskwa:wa:tkwa 'red cedar': Fox me}kwa:wa:hkwa,
Ojibwa miskwaawaak (Nichols and Nyholm), miskwawak
'Juniperus virginiana L.; red cedar' (Densmore 1974:290),
miskwâwak (Baraga), and misqwauwauk (Johnston 1978:27).7
Proto Lake *nekwetwa:tkwe: 'one hundred': Fox nekotwa:hkwe,
Ojibwa nankotwa:kk, Miami ngotwakwa, Potawatomi ngotwak
(McKinney 1998). It literally means 'one wood or forest'.
Compare Shawnee te:pwe:we 'one hundred'.
Proto Lake *no:nita 'my step mother', literally, 'the one who
suckles me': reduplicated Miami-Illinois neenoonita 'my step-
parent' (Costa 1999:41), Shawnee Ne-kä'-se-no-ne-tä 'my step
mother or father' and Kickapoo Ka-sa-no-ni-tß 'my step parent'
(Morgan 1871:374). This term is a conjunct participle, to which
evidently Kickapoo and Shawnee added a changed form of the
preverb *ki:}i- 'finish, complete' (and Shawnee the first person
prefix).
Proto Lake *wa:tka(:)hikani 'stockade, fort' (literally 'what one
encircles with'): Fox wa:hkahikani 'stockade', Algonquin
wâkahigan 'fort, picketed enclosure (enceinte de pieux)'
(Lemoine), wa:kka:hikan 'fort, house, fence' (Piggott and
Grafstein 1983), and Potawatomi waka'Iken 'fence' (McKinney
1998). However, due to the semantic transparency of
*wa:tka(:)hikani, and the variation in the length of the second
vowel, reshaping or a loan-translation are likely and the

7
Compare also Munsee D elaware sh]@@n dahkw 'cedar tree', Passamaquoddy
stáhkw]n 'fir tree', and Micmac stox'n 'fir, blac k spruc e'.

39
assignment to Proto Lake is unreliable.8
Proto Lake *we:ta:HSe:wa 'warrior-hero': Fox we:ta:se:wa
'warrior', Potawatomi we'tase' 'brave' (McKinney 1998), Ottawa
wedaase 'brave, hero' (where *HS is any of the six PA clusters
merged in Proto Lake). Compare Shawnee weeteele{ike 'he is
pugnacious' (literally, 'thinks about things like a warrior-hero').
Proto Subboreal *ne?[ansínsa 'my mother's brother': Western
Abenaki nezasiz, and Eastern Abenaki n]sassis (recorded by
Aubery) beside the historically expected alternate n]sis from PA
*ne}ihsa (recorded by Rasle). The innovated stem is cognate to
Unami Delaware naxá:ns and Munsee Delaware nxáns 'my older
brother' - a Crow IV extension of *ne?[ánsa, in turn an a-grade
of PA *ne?[énsa 'my older brother' - to which is added
diminutive *-íns. This is a by-form of *-éns used in Menominee,
Subboreal, and Micmac (if not dialectal PA) in those cases where
the *é has not contracted with a preceding semivowel, notably in
double diminutives: Menominee anemo:hse:hs£h 'little puppy',
and Western Abenaki al]mosiz, Passamaquoddy ]l]mussis, and
Micmac 'lmu:{i:{ 'little dog'.
Upland Lake *a:ye:li:wa 'opossum': Fox aye:ni:ha, Kickapoo
aayeeniiha, Potawatomi ayeni, Miami-Illinois aayeeliiwa (Costa
1992:21).
Upland Lake *asekena:hkwa 'blackbird': Ojibwa asiginaak,

8
In the East the term is *wa:tka:losani 'fort' (literally, 'what one encloses oneself in
a circle with'): Micmac waxalusan, Passamaquo ddy wahkalus]n (cf. lahkalus]n 'high
fence, wall'), Western A benaki wakwôloz]n, Massachusett wôk8n8s and wonkon8s
(also 'wall, fence'), and Narragansett waukaunósint. However, though this looks like
a PA word, it surely diffused around A.D. 900.

40
Shawnee ha§ikina?kwa, Fox sakena:hkwa (with metathesis of the
first two vowels), and Miami-Illinois síkinaahkwa (Costa
1992:26).
Upland Lake *kehkeh}i- 'make camp, stay in a place, move in
there, stay and live there': Kickapoo kehkesi- 'camp there, move
in there, stay and live there', Shawnee kke?}i-, cf. Miami
ningiki{i 'I camp'. Etymologically, the root here is perhaps
*kehk- 'mark, identify, specify', implying a marked camping place
one returns to.
Upland Lake *ma:[k- 'toad', reduplicated and reshaped: Shawnee
meem?ki{e, with initial change, and unchanged Miami
mamakissia and Kickapoo mamahkeeha 'toad'. Compare PA
*ma:[k(atky)- 'toad'.
Upland Lake *maneto:wa 'snake, spirit': Shawnee maneto 'snake,
Creator', Kickapoo manetoa 'snake, god', Fox maneto:we:ha 'little
snake'. An extension of PA *maneto:wa 'spirit'. Compare
Shawnee manetowame:kwa 'eel'.
Upland Lake *po:taha:kani 'mortar': Shawnee po:tha:ka,
Kickapoo pootahaakani.
Upland Proto Lake *to:nto:wa 'bullfrog': Fox to:to:wa, Kickapoo
tootoa, Miami tondwa 'bullfrog'. Evidently a reshaping of PCA
*te:nte:wa 'large frog or toad'.
The end

41
 Index
blackbird(s), 20
abiding place, 19 Blackfoot, 3, 23, 28, 30
acorn, 10, 13 blossom, 17
admires it, 33 blueberry bush, 9, 14
adopt someone, 28 bow, 29, 32
aieul, 35 brave, 37, 40
all sorts of flowers, 17 brother (man speaking), 36
all the way, 21 brother-in-law (m an speaking),
amy, 36 35, 36
arrière-neveu, 34 buck, 2, 7
arrow, 29 buck deer, 2, 7
badger, 4 buck deer, elk, buffalo, 2
bass, 13 buck m oose, 2
beaked hazel, 14 bull (moose, caribou, etc .), 2
bean, 11, 16 bull buffa lo, 2
bean(s), 16 bull moose, 1
beans, 11, 12 bullfrog, 37, 41
bear, 4, 5, 6, 7 bunchberries, 15
bears young, 6 bunchberry, 15
bed, 26 bush bean, 12
bed, couch, 26 bush cranberry tree, 10
beech nut, 10 butternut tree, 14, 15
beech tree, 10 butternut tree, nut tree, hazelnut
benefactive, 35 bush, 14
blueberry bush, 9, 14 butternuts, nuts, 14
berry plants or low bushes, 9 by mental action, 33
big, 17, 32, 37 camp, 31, 40
big pumpkin, 17 camp overnight, stay over in a
bitch, 2, 6 place, 31
bitch gives b irth to a pup, 6 camp there, 40
black spruce, 17, 39 catch (usually fish), entrap, snare,
blackbird, 20, 40 hook, 28

42
catches a fish, 28 crawls or creeps out, 38
catches something with a hook, crawls or drives on, along, 29
28 cross a stream, 21
catches, gets something, 28 cross sex sibling, 20, 23, 25
cedar tree, 37, 39 cut off, 18, 32
ceremonial friend (of any sex) or dead mother, 23
friend, 36 dear friend, 25
cherry tree, 10 desires it, 33
child, 24, 25, 34, 35 disembark, cross from a boat to
child-in-law, 24, 25, 35 the shore, 21
close (coresident) relative, 30 disembarks, 21
close relative, 30 disembarks from a boat, descends,
closely related to someone, 30 21
cock, 4 doe, 6, 7, 9
coffee, 16 doe uneng aged in reproduction, 7
collect or save seeds or berries for doe with young, 6
sowing, 16 doe(s), 7
comes to land, lands from a boat, doe, mare, female of moose, deer,
21 elk, bison, caribou, 6
common man, 30 domestic bull, 7
corn harvested immature, 17 domestic cow, 9
couch, sleeping place in the lodge, dream, 38
27 dreams, 38
covets, 33 drop, give birth (as to a calf), lay
covets it, 33 (an egg), 7
cow buf falo, 2 drops a calf, lays an egg, gives
cow that h as a calf, 9 birth, 6
cranberry, 10, 15 dry ground cranberry plant, 9, 15
cranberry bush, 10, 15 dwell there, 35
cranberry plant, 15 dwelling, town, 31
crapaud, 22 dwells along with other people, 24
crawl, 38 dwells so, 24
crawls, 29, 38 dwells there (in a satellite camp)
crawls or creeps, 38 for me, 35

43
eel, 32, 41 female of b easts, 2
entraps, 28 female of b irds, 2
épée, 28 female of deer-kind (including
épinette blanche, 11 moose), 7
épinette noire, 17 female of lyn x, hare, 2
escarpment, a steep place, 32 female of sm all animals, 9
espèce de grosse grenouille, 37 female otter, 8, 9
être, 30 female partridge, 3
farm, field, 31 female porc upine, 3, 7
father, 24, 26, 36 female porcupine during her
fellow husband, 23, 25 reproductive years, 7
fellow participant in a rite, 36 female ptarmigan, 3
fellow son-in-law living with in- female quadruped, 2
laws, 35 female seal or otter gives birth , 8
female animal, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9 fence, 39
female animal, female dog, 2 fenced garden, enclosure, 31
female bear, 5 fertile doe moose, 6
female bear in her reproductive fertile female bear, 5
years, 5 fertile female beaver, 5
female beaver, 3, 6 fertile female caribou, 9
female beaver in her reproductive fertile female dog, 5
years, 6 fertile female otter, 8, 9
female bird, 2 fertile female porcupine, 7
female caribou, 9 fertile female seal or animal of the
female deer, 7 *-ikw-a class, 9
female dog, 2, 5 fèves de terre, 11
female dog in her reproductive finish, 39
years, 5 first, 9, 11, 34, 39, 40
female dog or other ca nine, 2 first born child, 34
female dog with youn g, 5 fish, 1, 4, 19, 28, 32
female ga me bird, 2 fish spear, 19
female having young , 6 fisher, 19
female m oose, 6, 7 fisherman, 19
female of animals, 2 fishes, 5, 19

44
fishhook, 19 great grandfather, 35
flower, 17 great grand-father, 35
fort, 39 great grandmother, 35
friend, 21, 23, 24, 25, 28, 36 great grandparent, 35
friend of another nation, 24 great-grandchild, 34
friend, relation, 21 greatness, 37
friend, relative, 21 green toad, 37
friends, 21, 28 grenouille, 37
frog, 19, 20, 22, 30, 37 grenoüille, 20
fruit du quatre temps (cornus grosses noix, 15
canadensis), 15 groundh og, 4
fruit shrub, 10 gun, bow, 29, 32
full brother or sister, 26 hardwood tree, 36
garden, 12, 31 hart, roe, 1
garden, field, 31 has him as a son, 35
garden, field, farm, arable land, 31 has pups, kittens, 6
general nam e for a male, 7 have a bad dream, 38
gentleman friend, 24 have an ominous dream, 38
give birth, 6, 34 have as a relative from the other
give gifts ... to parents-in-law moiety, 28
(men only), 28 have as a thither relative, have as a
gives birth, 6 relative-like associate, 20
go across, 21 small nut, 14
go on a substitute or specially hazelnut bush, 14
made trail, 34 hazel-nut-willow tree, 14
go on a war party, 22 help, 29
go on the war path, 33 help, be sociable, keep company
goes back, com es back, returns, with, 29
22 helps, 29
good, 18, 24, 27 helps, takes part, 29
gooseberry, 15 hero, 37, 40
grain of corn, 16 hickory nut, 15
grain of sweet corn, 17 hide, 38
great, 14, 19, 34 hide her, 38

45
hides him, 38 looking for porcupines, 5
high bush cranberry bush, 9, 10 loup-marin, 8
highbush cranberry bush, 10 maize, corn, 16
highbush cranberry bushes, 10 make, 18, 31, 33, 40
hind, 7, 9 make a cabin, 31
homme, 30 make camp, 40
homme, peuple, 30 male anim al, 3, 4
human being, 30, 33 male anim al, dog, 3
hunt, 5 male bear, 3
hunt porcupines, 5 male beast, especially canine or
husband, 23, 26 bear, 3
Indian language, 18 male beaver, 4
Indian person, 33 male beaver (bones), 4
Indian, ma n, 6 male bird, 4
kinsman, 21, 24 male carib ou, 7
kinsman of a female, 21 male deer, 1
know her, 28 male dog, 3
lance, 28 male fish, 4
lance, spear, machete, 28 male fowl, cock, 4
lands, 21 male friend (man speaking), 28,
large frog or toad, 37, 41 35
large nut, 14 male friend or brother-in-law
large nut, butternut, 14 (man speaking), 36
leads a war party, 33 male gam e bird, 4
little dog, 40 male goph er, 3
little female animals, 9 male mo ose, 2
little grain of wheat or millet, 17 male of beasts, 3
little male anim als, 7 male of deer or deer-kind
little nuts, especially hazelnuts, 14 (including moose), a bu ck, 2
little pumpkin, 17 male of ox or moose kind , 2
little puppy, 40 male of sm aller species, 2
little snake, 41 male otter, 7
little squash, 17 male otter or mink, 7
live with one, 34 male partrid ge, 4

46
male porcupine, 4 older brother, 22, 34, 40
male ptarm igan, 4 one hundred, 32, 33, 39
male quadruped, 2 fellow brother-in-law, 35
male seal, 7 one who is a son, 35
male seal or animal of the *-ikw-a one wood or forest, 39
class, 7 opossum, 40
male, stag, b uck, 2 ordinary man (self-designation),
maple, 36 30
maple sugar, 36 ordinary person, 30
mark, 41 ordinary relatives, 20
melt snow in a pail, 36 otter, 5, 7, 9
members of the Warrior society, out of a place, 24
37 outsider husband, 23, 34
merely walks, 33 painful, 18
mink, 1 parallel sibling, 26
moose, 2 parenté, 20
mortar, 41 participates, 29
mother, 22, 23, 34, 40 path, 33
mottled hog peanu t (Amphicarpa pêche, 19
bracteata), 12, 13 people, my kin, my relative, 20
mouse, 9, 29, 38 person who merely walks, 33
moves her household into X, 24 person, Indian, 20
near relative, 20 pine, 37
nephew, 21 place in a lodge allotted to a
non-coresident step- or half sister family, 19
(woman speaking), 36 place in the lodge allotted to a
nous sommes... parents, 21 family, 27
nursing fem ale animal, 5 place occupé, 27
nut, 13, 14 place, a town or city, 31
nut tree, 14 plant, sow seeds, 31
nut tree, specifically butternut pound, 14
tree, 14 prairie, 11
nut, hazelnut, peanut, 14 pregnant female beaver, 6
of a female quadruped, 2 pugnacious, 40

47
pumpkin, 17 seal, 7, 8, 9
red, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 37, seat, settee, 27
38 seat, sitting place, 19
Juniperus virginiana L., 17, 38 seed, 10, 12, 14, 16
red cedar, 17, 37, 38 seed for sowing, 16
red cranberry vine, 15 sibling, 24, 25, 26
red oak acorn, 10, 13 sit, 12, 18, 19, 23, 27
red or white pine, 37 sit, be located, 27
red spruce, 11 small berry, 10
reddish hog peanut, 11, 13 small dark frog, 30
regional group encampment, 26 small frog, 37
related, 7, 13, 20, 24, 25, 28, 30 small frog or toad, 37
related thither to someone, be snake, 19, 31, 41
like related to someone, 30 snow beverage, 36
related to someone, 28 sofa, 26
relation, 20 someone born, 34
relative, 9, 20, 21, 23, 28, 30 somet rocheux escarpé, 32
relative, someone is related to her, sounds strange, 18
21 souris, 29
relative-like associate, 30 speak a foreign language, 18
relatives, 20, 25, 30 speak a language, 18
rich, 29 speak Indian, 18
rich man... next in degree to a speak properly, 18
Sachem, 29 speak Shawnee, 18
rich, wealthy, 29 speaks a foreign language, 18
road, 33 speaks a Native language,
rodent or sm all gnawing animal, 9 Delaware, 18
Ruler of the Dead, 38 speaks a strange language, 18
rutting m ale caribou, 2 speaks Abenaki, 18
same-sex friend or acquaintance, speaks an Indian language,
35 Malecite-Passamaquoddy, 18
satellite camp, 27, 31 speaks Indian, 18
sauvage, 18 speaks Indian, Abenaki, 18
saves seeds for next year, 16 speaks that language, 18

48
speaks the language, 18 thy husband, 23
speaks well, has a fine clear voice, toad, 20, 22, 37, 41
18 totemic ancestor, 24
spear, 19, 28 town, 26, 27, 31
spirit, 41 town, land, 26
spotted bass, 13 towns, 26, 27
spruce, 11, 17 trapping territory, 31
squeeze, 36 tree, 10, 13, 15, 39
squirrel, 9 turkey, 4
staghorn sumacs, 10 unrelated child-in-law, 24
star, 18 very big toad, 37
step mother, 39 village, 26, 27, 31
step mother or father, 39 village, settlement, 31
step parent, 39 villages, 26
step-parent, 39 ville, village, 27
stockade, 39 walks, 33
stomach , 6 walks afoot, 33
stops talking or crying, 18 walnut, 14
strawberry plant, 9, 15 war path, 33
striped, 13 warrior, 22, 37, 40
sucre, 36 warrior seeking captives, 22
sugar, 36 warrior-hero, 40
sumac bush, 9, 15 warriors, 22
sumac seed, 15 wealthy one, 29
sun, 21 what one encircles with, 39
supernatural, wonderful, 16 white female friend, 24
sweet corn, 17 white friend of the opposite sex,
ten, 32 24
cock, 4 white male friend, 24
thorn, 10, 15 white pine, 37
thorn bush or gooseberry bush, 15 white spruce, 11, 17
thorn-apple trees, 10 large nut, 14
thornbush, 15 wife, 26, 34, 36
thornbushes, 15 wife of my husband, 36

49
fancy, 13
work my field, 31
works or is affiliated with a group,
28
young fem ale deer, 7

50
 Corrections and Clarifications
========================
Date: Tue, 9 Nov 2004 1:55:02 PM EST
Dear Dr. Proulx:
A friend directed me to the above-referenced work of yours?not
because I'm an Algonquianist (I'm not!)?but because you made
some use of my book, A DELAWARE-ENGLISH
LEXICON.
I am writing to bring your attention to two errors in your essay,
which are, to be sure, completely tangential to your purpose; but
mistakes, nonetheless.
On page 5, you write, "The Unami Delaware ANIMAL class
includes, turtles, snakes, lizards, frogs, toads, fishes, sea mammals,
shellfish, and bugs (Miller 1975:438)." While it is true that the
Delaware term, "ayësisak" ('animals'), might include all these
creatures (this must be a modern broadening of the sense); the
term, "-xam" ('animal'), is definitely restricted to fur-bearing
quadrupeds. Therefore, this sentence does not apply to the
example you're illustrating, here.
On page 12, the Delaware word, /ma:laxksit/, should be (I think)
/ma:laxkwsi:t/; and *maxksit should (I think) be *maxksi:t. The
Moravian missionaries did not often represent the voiceless w, in
their orthographies, but they certainly knew it was there, as is
shown by some of their manuscripts. Vowel before final 't, in

51
Delaware participles, is always long.
I enjoyed this article, though much of it is way over my head.
Wawullamallessil!
Ray Whritenour LENAPE TEXTS & STUDIES

========================
January '05
It has been brought to my attention by Todd Thompson, of
New York, N.Y., that there are some mysterious 4's in the first
edition of this paper. Here's the etiology of those 4's.
My spelling checker is configured to ignore all words that begin
in numbers. When writing, I use 4's on Algonquian and some
other foreign words throughout my paper. When I am finished
and ready to publish, I do an automatic "search and replace"
deleting all 4's. Well, almost all. For reasons unknown to me,
the software leaves just a few. If I miss them, they sometimes
remain in the final version. That's all they are. I have corrected
them all (I think) in the second edition.

========================

52