Reconstruction:Proto-Algonquian/nekwetwi

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

Proto-Algonquian cardinal numbers

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Cardinal : *nekwetwi

Etymology

From Proto-Algic *nekwet- (“one”), whence also Yurok kohta'r (“one (straight thing)”), kohtoh (“one (round thing)”) and Wiyot go't (“one (person)”), which (like Unami) lost the prefix ne-. The Proto-Algic root may have been borrowed from or into Proto-Salish; see *nekwet- for more.

It has been observed that "the numbers from ‘one’ to ‘five’ all contain a semantically empty initial (root) *ny-, realized as *ne- before a consonant".

Numeral

*nekwetwi

1. one (1)

Synonyms

• *pe·šekwi (“one”)

Derived terms

• *nekwetwa·šika (“six”)

Descendants

• Abenaki: negwed- (“one in a series”)
• Algonquin ningo (“one (used with measures)”)
• Cheyenne: no'k- (“one, alone”), naest- (“all in one place”)
• Fox: nekoti (“one”)
• Malecite-Passamaquoddy: neqt (“one”)
• Massachusett: nequt (“one”)
• Menominee: nekot (“one”)
• Miami: ninkoti (“one”)
• Mohegan-Pequot: nuqut (“one”)
• Ojibwe ningo-, ningodw- (“one”)
• Penobscot: nəkʷt-,nəkʷət- (“one, lone”)
• Potawatomi: ngot (“one”)
• Powhatan: nekut (“one”)
• Quiripi: nukqútte (“either”) (Quiripi), naqúut (“one”) (Unquachog)
• Shawnee: nekoti (“one”)
• Unami: kwëti (“one”)
• Munsee: ngwúti (“one”)

References

• Bloomfield (1946)
• Siebert (1975)
• Richard Rhodes and David Costa, The History of Algonquian Number Words