Reconstruction:Proto-Algonquian/aθwi

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

• *aɬwi (alternative orthography)

Etymology

Considered by one source to derive from a root meaning "round"; connected by Andrew Garrett to Yurok horew (“pointed object (arrow, rock, etc)”).

Noun

*aθwi

1. arrow

Descendants

• Plains Algonquian:
  • Arapaho: hóθ (“arrow”)
  • Gros Ventre: óc
• Central Algonquian:
  • Cree-Montagnais-Naskapi:
    • Plains Cree: ᐊᑐᐢ (atos), ᐊᒍᐢ (acos)
    • Southern East Cree: ᐊᑐᔅ (atos)
    • Atikamekw: atos
    • Montagnais: atush
  • Ojibwe: anwi (“arrow, bullet, something shot as a missile”)
  • Ottawa: nwi (“bullet”)
  • Potawatomi: nwe (“bullet”)
  • Miami: aloon(i)hsi (“bullet”)
  • Kickapoo: anooni
  • Shawnee: alwi
  • Menominee: anīh (“bullet”)
• Eastern Algonquian
  • Powhatan: attonce (“arrow”)
  • Unami: aluns (“arrow, bullet”)

References

• Siebert (1941)
• Berman, Howard (1992) “A Restriction on the Shape of Proto-Algonquian Nouns”, in International Journal of American Linguistics, volume 58, number 3, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, →JSTOR
• Northeast Anthropology, issues 46-50 (1993), page 6:

  The several Proto-Algonquian terms for "arrow" include PA *aθwi (from a root meaning 'round'), *akaxkwa ('blunt of round-headed arrow'), and *a'θawana ('fletched arrow, arrow with a stone head and feathers'), as glossed by Siebert (1975:313). These do not appear to be compounds, so they are not suspect as loanwords. There is even a simple Proto-Algonquian verb stem, *pemw-, which means 'the other shoots him with an arrow'; […]

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