Reconstruction:Proto-Algonquian/-xka·ti

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

Etymology

From the same Proto-Algic root as Yurok ʔnechkah, 'ne-chkah (“my foot”) and Wiyot čkač (“leg”).

Noun

*-xka·ti, *-xka·či (plural *-xka·tari)

1. leg, foot

Usage notes

• This term was (and in child languages remains) inalienable; it had to be preceded by a personal prefix such as *ni- (“my”), *ki- (“your (singular)”), or *wi- (“his or her”), as in *nexka·či (“my leg or foot”).
• č was an allophone of t before i, for which reason the term could just as well be written as -xka·či.

Descendants

• Plains Algonquian
  • Blackfoot: -ohkat (“leg”), as in nohkát (“my leg”)
• Central Algonquian:
  • Cree: miskât / ᒥᐢᑳᐟ (miskaat, “leg”)
  • Menominee: -hka·t (“leg”)
  • Fox: -hkâchi (“foot”)
  • Miami: nihkaati (“my foot”)
• Eastern Algonquian:
  • probably Abenaki (m)kôd (“leg”)
  • Mohegan-Pequot: -hkôt (“leg”)
  • Unami: hwikat (“leg”)
  • Malecite-Passamaquoddy: -kat (“leg”), as in nkat (“my leg”)

See also

• *-θkani (“bone, leg”)

References

• Siebert (1975)
• Goddard (1977)
• Greenberg (1987)
• Costa, David J. (2003) The Miami-Illinois Language (Studies in the Native Languages of the Americas), Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, →ISBN