ASB puza (corners and containers)

[Koontz John E]

On Tue, 12 Aug 2003, David Costa wrote:
> It's also seen in Ottawa /wiikwe/ 'bay' (from Rhodes' dictionary).
>
> Anyway, I thought of that comparison too, but that initial doesn't mean
> 'bottom'. It actually seems to mean 'corner, cove, angle', as in those last
> two Ojibwe examples. In old Illinois it's seen in:

...

Interestingly there's a set *(i-)reet(e) in Proto-Siouan that has more or
less the sort of coverage.  Not related, of course, to the Algonquian set
in any way that I am aware.

Cr dee'sa 'on the bank, edge'
Hi ree'ta 'edge, rim'

Te/Sa c^hete' 'bottom of vessel'
Te ic^he'te 'lip or rim of vessel'

Wi ree'c^ 'bottom'

OP idhe'de 'corner of mouth'
Ks ye'j^e 'peninsula, inside bend of a stream'
Os dhe'ce(waspe) 'dregs'

The c^h is a bit odd in Dakotan.  One would expect *yete, given y < *r,
and c^h < *y.  The only way this might work (from my perspective) would be
if the form were actually *(i)-yeet(e), where *i is, of course, the third
person inalienable 'its'.  In that case, it would be the *r reflexes in
Dhegiha which were odd-balls, resulting from rhoticism of *y in the
environment *i _ V.  The i- in the Teton form might well be i 'mouth',
then, but that really only makes sense if we take c^hete' 'bottom of
vessel' as a part for whole reference to the entire vessel in this case,
i.e., ic^he'te = 'mouth of vessel', not 'mouth of bottom of vessel'.  On
the other hand, if i- is a possessive here, then we have c^hete' 'bottom
of vessel' = 'curve of vessel' and ic^he'te 'its lip' = 'its curve (of
vessel)'.  The latter is semantically clearer, but phonologically less
clear (at least for me).

JEK