Reconstruction:Proto-Algonquian/name·ʔsa

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

Proto-Algonquian has a number of fish-related terms which begin with name·-, including this term, *name·kwa (“lake trout”), and *name·wa (“sturgeon”); see the latter for possible Wiyot and Yurok cognates.

Noun

*name·ʔsa

a fish

Descendants

Abenaki: namas (“fish”)
Arapaho: neb (dated)^[1]
possibly Blackfoot mamííwa (“fish”)
Cheyenne: nóma'he (“a fish”), nóma'ne
Cree: namês / ᓇᒣᐢ (names, “fish; small sturgeon”)
Naskapi: ᓂᒪᔅ (nimas, “fish”)
Fox: nemêtha (“fish”) (Fox, Sauk), memêtha (Kickapoo)
Malecite-Passamaquoddy: nomehs (“fish”)
Mi'kmaq: nme'j (“fish”)
Penobscot: namesa, names (“fish”)
Unami: namès (“fish”)
Mahican: numaath (“fish, sturgeon”)

References

^ This form represents a shortening of the PA word, based on interpretation of the final part as a diminutive suffix. As is observed in Mír curad (1998), page 191: "The historically expected Arapaho form *nebeheʔ would have had the shape of the regular diminutive of a stem neb: neb- + -eheʔ (25). Given such a form it would be straightforward, if not inevitable, for an explicitly non-diminutive Arapaho neb 'fish' (14) to arise by back-formation." Note that the usual Arapaho term for 'fish' is nowo' / naⁿwⁿ (depending on dialect and orthography).

[1] This form represents a shortening of the PA word, based on interpretation of the final part as a diminutive suffix. As is observed in Mír curad (1998), page 191: "The historically expected Arapaho form *nebeheʔ would have had the shape of the regular diminutive of a stem neb: neb- + -eheʔ (25). Given such a form it would be straightforward, if not inevitable, for an explicitly non-diminutive Arapaho neb 'fish' (14) to arise by back-formation." Note that the usual Arapaho term for 'fish' is nowo' / naⁿwⁿ (depending on dialect and orthography).

[1]