Reconstruction:Proto-Algonquian/-piti

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

From the same Proto-Algic root as Yurok 'na-rpehl/ʔnerpel (“my tooth”) and Wiyot bápt (“tooth”).

Noun

*-piti, -piči, *-i·piti, *-i·piči

1. tooth

Usage notes

• This term was (and in child languages remains) inalienable; it had to be preceded by a personal prefix such as *ni·- (“my”), *ki·- (“your (singular)”), or *wi·- (“his or her”), as in *ni·piči (“my tooth”), *ki·piči (“your tooth”), *wi·piči (“his or her tooth”). For this reason, it is not clear if -i·- was part of the root.
• č was an allophone of t before i, for which reason some sources give the reconstruction as -(i·)piči.

Descendants

• Plains Algonquian
  • Arapaho: néíčiθ (“my tooth”)
• Central Algonquian
  • Cree: -ipit / -îpit, as in nîpit / ᓃᐱᐟ (niipit, “my tooth”),
  • Fox: -îpichi (“tooth”)
  • Ojibwe: -iibid (“tooth”), as in niibid (“my tooth”)
  • Miami: niipiti, niipita (“my tooth”)
• Eastern Algonquian
  • Abenaki: wibid, wipit (“her or his tooth”)
  • Malecite-Passamaquoddy: -ipit (“tooth”), as in nipit (“my tooth”)
  • Mi'kmaq: -ipit (“tooth”), as in nipit (“my tooth”)
  • Massachusett: -pit (“tooth”), as in neepit (“my tooth”)
  • Mohegan-Pequot: -iput (“tooth”), as in niput (“my tooth”)
  • Quiripi: képut (“teeth”)
  • Unami: -ipit (“tooth”), as in nipit (“my tooth”)
  • Munsee: -iipit (“tooth”), as in níipiit (“my tooth”)

References

• Siebert (1975)
• Anthropological Linguistics (the journal of Indiana University's Department of Anthropology), volume 39, issue 1 (1997)
• Nicholas Evans, Dying Words: Endangered Languages and What They Have to Tell Us