Reconstruction:Proto-Algonquian/-mihsa

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

Noun

*-mihsa

1. older sister

Usage notes

• This term was (and in child languages remains) inalienable; it had to be preceded by a personal prefix such as *ne- (“my”), as in *nemihsa (“my older sister”).

Descendants

• Plains Algonquian
  • probably Arapaho nebi (“my older sister”)
  • Cheyenne: na-mêhäne (“my older sister”)
• Central Algonquian
  • Cree: nimis / ᓂᒥᐢ (nimis, “my older sister”)
  • Montagnais: umisha (“his/her older sister”)
  • Fox: nemithêha (“my older sister”)
  • Miami: nimihsa (“my older sister”)
  • Ojibwe: ni-misenh (“my older sister”)
  • Menominee: nemēh (“my older sister”)
• Eastern Algonquian
  • Abenaki: nmessis, n'messis (“my older sister”)
  • Malecite-Passamaquoddy: nmossis (“my older sister”)
  • Mohegan-Pequot: numsihs (“my older sister”)
  • Unami: nëmis (“my older sister”)

References

• Hockett (1964)
• Costa, David J. (2003) The Miami-Illinois Language (Studies in the Native Languages of the Americas), Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, →ISBN