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Proto-Dakotan Swadesh list word #152.
*Taxwantsa, river.Several differentiated words for ‘river’, however I traced them all to *Taxwantsa as shown below (all via *Axwantsa, *Taxentsa, and *Xwatanska).
1 WOCCON
2 CATAWBA /Iswe’n/ <*Axwan <*Axwantsa <*Taxwantsa
3 YESAN /Taksee/ <*Taksa <*Taxensa <*Taxwantsa
4 OFO /Abokii/ <*Awatsii <*Awantsa <*Axwantsa ^
5 BILOXI /Chaheman/ <*Taheman <*Taxensa ^
6 QUAPAW /Wathiishka/ <*Wathiintska <*Xwatantska <*Taxwantsa
7 OMAHA /Watchiishka/ <*Wathiintska ^
8 KAW /Watchiinshka/ <*Wathiintska ^
9 OSAGE /Nii/ = water
10 HOCHAK /Niinshnenk/ <*Shnenk <*Xwantsa <*Axwantsa ^
11 CHIWERE /Nyiixanye/ <*Xanye <*Xwantsa ^
12 MANDAN /Mantah/ <*Wantsa <*Awantsa ^
13 DAKOTA /Wakpa/ <*Wantsa ^
14 NAKODA /Wakpa/ ^
15 HIDATSA /Azii/, /Awatii/ <*Awatsii ^
16 CROW /Ashii/ <*Awatsii ^Rankin’s reconstruction of PS ‘river’ is *Awatahi, based on #6-8, 12, 15b and 16.
William Meuse
Proto-Dakotan Swadesh list word #153.
*Menin-nitsanga, lake.The original form seems to have been *Meniin, water, + *Niitsanga, big (word #27). This is still apparent in Mandan (/Miiniin/, water, /Xtee/, big, /Miiniinxtee/ lake); and Nakoda (/Miinii/ water, /Tanga/ big, /Miiniitanga/ lake). Also, Hidatsa has /Miidii/ water, /Iithii’a/ big, /Miidiichtiiya/ lake. We can also detect Catawba /Yen/ water in /Yunchu’/ lake; and Yesan /Iitan/ big in /Yeten/ lake.
Some other languages use a form corresponding to ‘water’ + ‘big’ for “sea, ocean” which is word #154, *Meniin-pandee; this indicates some crossover in meaning between the two original terms, *Meniin-niitsanga “lake” and *Meniin-pandee “sea”.1 WOCCON ?
2 CATAWBA /Yunchu’/
3 YESAN /Yeten/
4 OFO ?
5 BILOXI /Ayohii/
6 QUAPAW /Tee/
7 OMAHA /Nee/
8 KAW /Jee/
9 OSAGE /Dsee/
10 HOCHAK /Tee/
11 CHIWERE /Jeegiixee/
12 MANDAN /Miiniinxtee/
13 DAKOTA /Bdee/
14 NAKODA /Miiniitanga/
15 HIDATSA /Miidiichtiiya/
16 CROW ?Rankin has PS *Ware or *Ye, meaning lake or water. From the above words for ‘lake’, he includes #3, 6-10, and 13.
William Meuse
Proto-Dakotan Swadesh list word #154.
*Menin-pandee, sea, ocean.Several languages are missing and most are similar or parallel to *Meniin-niitsanga “lake”.
In Yesan, we have /Yetan/ sea alongside /Yeten/ lake. If these are not just from two variant transcriptions of the identical word, then at least they originate in the same word with one being slightly altered. /Yetan/ even more obviously incorporates /Iitan/, “big”. The Ofo set of /Anii/, water, /Iithon/ big, /Aniitan/ sea, suggests that both the Ofo and Yesan words for “sea” are from *Menii-iitan, i.e. *Meniin-niitsanga “big water”.
In /Jeedan/ (2x) and /Teejen/ meaning “sea”, the second part -dan or -jen is also from *-niitsanga “big”, but the first parts are the short words for “lake”, i.e. “sea” = “big lake”.
The Catawba word for ‘sea’ includes “river” /Iswe’n/ + /-sgree/, which must signify that it is the destination of rivers?
This leaves Dakota and Nakoda /Miniiwancha/ and /Miniiwanja/. The /Minii-/ in these is again obviously ‘water’, but the second element *-wanda is something else. Those 2 languages already use “big water” to mean “lake”, so I assume this preserves the original arrangement for “sea”.Earlier I reconstructed “tree” as *Manyan, and “forest” as *Manyan-pandee. (words #51-52). The *-pandee seems to signify an abundance or a collection of something, so I suspected this might be the same element added to *Meniin to make “sea, ocean”.
Later on the list, I also got *Miinyanstek “stone” (#156), and *Miinyanstek-baxee-niitsanga for “mountain” (#171), where this central element *-baxee- could easily be another instance of this nebulous term meaning ‘abundance or collection’; i.e. “mountain” = “abundance of large rocks”…1 WOCCON ?
2 CATAWBA /Iswensgree/
3 YESAN /Yetan/
4 OFO /Aniitan/
5 BILOXI /Anii/ = water
6 QUAPAW ?
7 OMAHA ?
8 KAW /Jeedan/
9 OSAGE ?
10 HOCHAK /Teejen/
11 CHIWERE /Jeedan/
12 MANDAN ?
13 DAKOTA /Miniiwancha/
14 NAKODA /Miniiwanja/
15 HIDATSA ?
16 CROW ?Rankin does not treat the words for “sea, ocean” separately from ‘lake’.
William Meuse
Proto-Dakotan Swadesh list word #155.
*Menin-skosha, salt.This one is interesting. There is a clear connection with the words for “water” in most of these, eg. Quapaw /Niin/ water, /Niinskiide/ salt; as well as in #7-11 and 13, the first part is the same as “water”. The added parts after the word for water are /-skiide/, /-skiiree/, /-skuwee/, /-dhkiithee/, /-sgu/, /-hgu/, and /-skuya/. Also in Mandan /Miiniin/ “water” seems detectable in /Hupiiniinhot/, with the added part being /-hot/.
In #3-5 and 15-16, however, the first part is thought by scholars to look more like the words for “earth” (from word #159 *Amanxan – which is the same, /Aman/, in #3-5, /Ama/ in Hidatsa, and /Awa/ in Crow.) These are older languages that could indicate an older term using ‘earth’ instead of ‘water’ like *Amanxan-skosha. In either case the added parts here are /-chiigonyon/, /-skuwe/, /-sii/, /-xota/ and /-xosa/.
All of the added parts seem cognate and taking them all back would produce something nearly like *-skosha, an element that also seems to appear in my reconstruction of “to hold”, #129 *Adunskosha. If my extended conjecture is correct, the possible meaning of this term is that salt is a substance “contained” in water (or earth).
1 WOCCON ?
2 CATAWBA /Tus/
3 YESAN /Machiigonyon/
4 OFO /Ameskuwe/
5 BILOXI /Wasii/
6 QUAPAW /Niinskiide/
7 OMAHA /Niinskiiree/
8 KAW /Niiskuwee/
9 OSAGE /Niidhkiithee/
10 HOCHAK /Niinsgu/
11 CHIWERE /Nyiihgu/
12 MANDAN /Hupiiniinhot/
13 DAKOTA /Miniiskuya/
14 NAKODA /Shtushteena/
15 HIDATSA /Amaxota/
16 CROW /Awaxosa/Rankin does not attempt a Proto-Siouan reconstruction, but says #6-11 and 13 are from PMV *Mninsku or *Mninskure “water + sweet”; #3 and 4 from Proto-Ohio Valley *Aman-shikue “earth + sweet”, and #15-16 from Proto-Hidatsa *Awaxota, “earth + grey”.
Note The added parts in #6-11 and 13 only (PMV) do correspond with the words for ‘sweet’, as well as Hidatsa /Xota/ ‘grey’, but these could also be ‘folk etymologies’ that affected the morphology.
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