phanem

Abenaki

Etymology

John Dyneley Prince speculated in 1905 that this term and the Mahican term ph·ánam (his spelling, corresponding to /phanam/, which he compares to De Forest's p'ghainoom) may be "connected by metathesis with" the same root from which squaw derives (which is Proto-Algonquian *eθkwe·wa (“(young) woman”)). Prince wrote "I think p-h· in ph·ánam is a metathesis of k(p)-w(h)".

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pᵊhanəm/

Noun

phanem

1. woman

References

• Joseph Laurent (1884) New Familiar Abenakis and English Dialogues, Quebec: Leger Brousseau, page 10