bows (and arrows)

[Koontz John E]

On Fri, 17 Aug 2001, Bruce Ingham wrote:
> Having fond out about bows, does anyone know the derivation of Lakota
> waNhiNkpe 'arrow'.  The waN element (also w-, wa- )occurs as an
> incorporatable element in waNtaNyeyela 'good archer', waNsaka 'arrow
> shaft', wawakhaN 'sacred arrow'.  waNhiNkpe looks as though it may be
> from waN 'arrow', hi 'tooth, point' and iNkpa 'end', but that seems
> like a very superfluous derivation.  Any ideas ...

I've been meaning to say that 'arrow' like wiNyaN 'woman' seems to include
a final h a number of the languages and that this may have something to do
with the failure of w to nasalize m in these two words.  WiNyaN seems to
be wiN and wi in compounds and I assume that the yaN is an "epenthetic"
a, separated from the stem by epenthetic y and nasalized across the y, cf.
he- ~ heya, etc.

It is not clear that the -h- in waNhiNkpe is derived from this PS h.  OP
has just maN or moN, but would, of course, lose the final h.  I suspect
the root is just waN in Dakotan and that the h is secondary, though it
might as well be from hu as hi.  Also, isn't huNkpa also 'end'?

JEK