Reconstruction:Proto-Algonquian/mo·swa

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

Literally "it strips", referring to the way the animal eats (by stripping bark off trees).

Noun

*mo·swa

1. moose

Descendants

• Plains Algonquian:
  • possibly Cheyenne mō'e (“elk”); compare mehe (“cow, doe (female buffalo or deer)”)
• Central Algonquian:
  • Cree-Montagnais-Naskapi:
    • Cree:
      • Plains Cree: môswa, ᒨᔁ
      • Woods Cree: ᒨᔁ (mōswa)
      • East Swampy Cree: ᒨᐢ (mōs)
      • West Swampy Cree: ᒨᔁ (mōswa)
      • Atikamekw ᒧᔅ (mos)
    • Montagnais-Naskapi:
      • East Cree:
        • Northern East Cree: ᒨᔅ (moos)
        • Southern East Cree: ᒨᔅ (moos)
      • Montagnais: ᒧᔥ (mush)
      • Naskapi: ᒧᔅ (mus)
  • Menominee: mo·s
  • Eastern Great Lakes:
    • Ojibwe-Potawatomi:
      • Ojibwe: moozo, mooz, moonz
        • Algonquin: mòz
        • Ottawa: mooz
        • Western Ojibwe: moozo
      • Potawatomi: mozo
    • Fox-Sauk-Kickapoo:
      • Fox/Sauk: môthwa, possibly also meshêwêwa
    • Miami: moohswa (“deer”)
• Eastern Algonquian:
  • Abenaki: moz
  • Penobscot: mos
  • Malecite-Passamaquoddy: mus
  • Massachusett: moos, mws
  • Narragansett: moos
  • Mohegan-Pequot: mos
  • Mahican: mo-ose
  • Lenape/Delaware:
    • Unami: mus
    • Munsee: móos
  • → English: moose (from one of the Eastern Algonquian languages) (see there for further descendants)

References

• Siebert (1967)
• 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
• Hewson (1993)
• Costa, David J. (2003) The Miami-Illinois Language (Studies in the Native Languages of the Americas), Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, →ISBN
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “moose”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.