Reconstruction:Proto-Algonquian/name·wa

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·-; see *name·ʔsa (“fish”) for more.

This word has been compared to Yurok nepuy (“salmon”), but Goddard argues that that Yurok designation is merely a derivative of the Yurok word for "eat" (compare nepu' (“it is eaten”).^[1] Yurok also has a word me'woo (“fish”). Wiyot, which hardened Proto-Algic's nasals (see e.g. b- vs *me-), has ba·'m (“sturgeon”).

Noun

*name·wa

sturgeon

Descendants

Cree: namew/ᓇᒣᐤ (namew, “sturgeon”)
Northern East Cree: ᓂᒫᐤ (nimaaw, “sturgeon, lake sturgeon”)
Southern East Cree: ᓇᒣᐤ (namew, “sturgeon, lake sturgeon”)
Montagnais: nameu (“sturgeon, atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrhynchus)”)
Miami: nameewa/mameewa (“sturgeon”)
Ojibwe: name (“sturgeon”)
Ottawa: nme (“sturgeon”)

References

Bloomfield (1946)
Costa, David J. (2003) The Miami-Illinois Language (Studies in the Native Languages of the Americas), Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, →ISBN

^ Ives Goddard, Algonquian, Wiyot, and Yurok, in Linguistics and Anthropology: in Honor of C. F. Voegelin →ISBN, pages 256–7: "Yurok nepuy 'salmon' has been compared with Algonquian *name·wa 'sturgeon'. The Algonquian word is related to a number of other forms referring to fish, e.g. *name·ʔsa 'fish', *name·kwa, *name·kwehsa 'lake trout'. The Yurok word, however, seems to be related to nep- 'to eat', [... compare how] in Wiyot the word bołàk 'salmon' is a verbal derivative which literally means 'one feasts'."

[1] Ives Goddard, Algonquian, Wiyot, and Yurok, in Linguistics and Anthropology: in Honor of C. F. Voegelin →ISBN, pages 256–7: "Yurok nepuy 'salmon' has been compared with Algonquian *name·wa 'sturgeon'. The Algonquian word is related to a number of other forms referring to fish, e.g. *name·ʔsa 'fish', *name·kwa, *name·kwehsa 'lake trout'. The Yurok word, however, seems to be related to nep- 'to eat', [... compare how] in Wiyot the word bołàk 'salmon' is a verbal derivative which literally means 'one feasts'."

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