Reconstruction:Proto-Algonquian/-θkani

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

• *-ɬkani (alternative orthography)

Etymology

From Proto-Algic *wʔeɬkan, whence also Wiyot watkerat (“bone”) and Yurok 'wrhlkr' (“bone”). The term was always possessed, and in some languages (including Yurok) the third-person prefix (*weʔ-) was incorporated into the stem.

Noun

*-θkani

1. bone, leg

   *neθkani (“my bone”)

   *weθkani (“her or his bone”)

Descendants

• Plains Algonquian:
  • Blackfoot: okh-kin (“bone”)
  • Arapaho: hix
  • Cheyenne: he'ko (“bone, leg”)
• Central Algonquian:
  • Cree: miskan / ᒥᐢᑲᐣ (miskan, “bone”)
  • Menominee: ohka·n (“bone”)
  • Ojibwe: -kan (“bone”) (nikan (“my bone”), gikan (“your bone”))
  • Fox (Sauk): ahkani (“bone”)
  • Shawnee: hohkani (“his bone”)
  • Miami: (ni)hkani (“(my) bone, (my) leg”)
• Eastern Algonquian:
  • Abenaki: (m)skan (“bone”)
  • Mohegan-Pequot: -skan (“bone”)
  • Unami: xkàn (“bone”)

See also

• *-xka·ti (“leg, foot”)

References

• Siebert 1975
• Ives Goddard, Algonquian, Wiyot, and Yurok, in Linguistics and Anthropology: in Honor of C. F. Voegelin →ISBN
• David Costa, Shawnee Noun Plurals, in Anthropological Linguistics, 43:3 (2001): cites it with the third-person prefix, i.e. as weθkani
• Costa, David J. (2003) The Miami-Illinois Language (Studies in the Native Languages of the Americas), Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, →ISBN: cites it with the first-person prefix, i.e. as neθkani