Sky and cloud

[Bruce Ingham]

Thank you for all the replies re cloud and sky.  It is fascinating to see
 all these reflexes indifferent Siouan languages.  Incidentally Blair's
reply mentions 'stars'.  In Lakota the word for 'star' is wichah^pi .
Normally the prefix wicha- refers to animate plurals.  Does anyone
know why it turns up in the word for star?  Is it from some other
earlier use or some other morph.  Does the wicha- occur in any
other Siouan reflexes for 'star'.  It is tempting to think of it as having
something to do with spirits of the dead, but I'm sure that's far-
fetched.


Bruce

Date sent:      	Sat, 17 Feb 2001 21:16:18 EST
Send reply to:  	siouan at lists.colorado.edu
From:           	BARudes at aol.com
To:             	siouan at lists.colorado.edu
Subject:        	Re: Sky and cloud

Catawba has distinct words for sky and cloud.  The word for cloud is namuN?
(with accent on the /uN/) and the word for sky is wa:pit (with accent on the
/a:/).  However, the English glosses do not fit well.  The word for cloud is
often used for heaven and the lower levels of the sky in narratives, and the
word for sky occurs in compounds for celestial objects (e.g., wa:pidnu  star
[with accent on the /i/).  The distinction seems to be one of upper versus
lower sky, or bounded versus unbounded sky.  The Catawba word for sky may
show metathesis, since the Woccon word for sun is Wittapare (i.e.
/wita:pire:/  it is the sky).

Blair

Dr. Bruce Ingham
Reader in Arabic Linguistic Studies
SOAS