Historical Explanation for *pi as Plural and Proximate and Nominalizer

[REGINA PUSTET]

--- "R. Rankin" <rankin at ku.edu> wrote:
> The analysis of /ob/ 'with' in the CSD is either
> Dick Carter's, David Rood's or
> John Koontz's (I don't remember which), and I can't
> vouch for it.  I can and do
> vouch for the Crow and Hidatsa forms, which were
> provided by Randy Graczyk and
> Wes Jones respectively.  They match in both V and C.
>  Ob would have an anomalous
> V; not a good sign.  Dakotan -api (reanalysed as
> just -pi after /a/ replaced /e/
> in many verb forms) is a clear cognate however.

It would be interesting to check on the etymology of
opha 'to join' as well. Maybe all three forms, i.e.
-pi, ob, and opha, are, ultimately, related. The
semantic fit of ob 'with' and opha 'to join' is just
to close to be neglected, at least to me.

Regina


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